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The Monastery of Hurez

No larger than a plot of land in northern Oltenia, Hurez fulfills two main conditions that made it become the precincts of a monastery: isolation and beauty. The ruler Constantin Brancoveanu (1688-1714) must have liked this too, since he decided to build here the most important religious site of his time. Built in 1691-1693, the church of Hurez was a powerful symbol of the everlasting faith in God for which Brancoveanu gave his life – he was killed in Constantinople together with his three sons. Finished in 1697, the monastery foreshadows the architectural style that bears the name of this ruler, who was as refined in his aesthetic taste as was rich – he used to be called “the prince of gold”. This style is characterized by the harmony of the dimensions, at a scale that doesn’t aim to obtain an impression of useless monumentality, by the elegance and the sumptuous, but not ostentatious decorations. Like any other Romanian monastery, Hurez includes a church – with rich stone adornments in the exterior and with internal walls covered by religious paintings – and a range of cells, a belfry tower and a guest house. A fresco painted in the pronaos of the church shows the founder Constantin Brancoveanu together with his family.

The monastery of Hurez shelters a valuable museum collection that includes original religious objects (icons, silver objects, paintings, stone and wood sculptures) and an interesting library of ancient books that contains approximately 4,000 volumes. The monachal centre from Hurez also has other four sites, placed in the shape of a cross: the church infirmary “The Assumption of the Virgin”, the chapel, as well as two hermitages: “St. Stephen” and “The St. Apostles and St. John.”

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