Principal Monasteries of Romania

• Putna Monastery – Suceava County. Founded by St Stephen the Great in 1466; regarded as the spiritual heart of Moldavia and the burial place of Stephen the Great.
• Neamț Monastery – Neamț County. The largest and most influential medieval monastery in Moldavia and one of the great centres of Romanian spirituality.
• Cernica Monastery – near Bucharest. Major Wallachian monastery associated with St Calinic of Cernica.
• Curtea de Argeș Monastery – Argeș County. Celebrated for its architecture and royal necropolis.
• Sihăstria Monastery – Neamț County. Famous for the elder Cleopa Ilie and the Romanian hesychast tradition.
• Prislop Monastery – Hunedoara County. One of the most visited monasteries in Romania because of Fr Arsenie Boca.
• Rohia Monastery – Maramureș County. Known for the monk and writer Nicolae Steinhardt.
• Voroneț Monastery – Suceava County. Perhaps the most famous painted monastery of Bucovina.

Moldavia and Bucovina

• Putna Monastery – Suceava County. Founded by Stephen the Great and one of the chief Romanian pilgrimage centres.
• Neamț Monastery – Neamț County. Historic centre of Romanian manuscript culture and monastic reform.
• Secu Monastery – Neamț County. Fortress-monastery linked with Moldavian monasticism.
• Sihăstria Monastery – Neamț County. Major hesychast centre of the twentieth century.
• Sihla Monastery – Neamț County. Associated with St Theodora of Sihla and cave asceticism.
• Agapia Monastery – Neamț County. One of the largest women’s monasteries in Romania.
• Văratec Monastery – Neamț County. Major convent and cultural centre.
• Voroneț Monastery – Suceava County. Famous for its exterior frescoes and the “Voroneț blue.”
• Sucevița Monastery – Suceava County. UNESCO-listed painted monastery with fortified walls.
• Moldovița Monastery – Suceava County. One of the classic painted monasteries of Bucovina.
• Humor Monastery – Suceava County. Known for its sixteenth-century frescoes.
• Arbore Monastery – Suceava County. Historic Moldavian church-monastery and UNESCO site.
• Probota Monastery – Suceava County. Burial place of Prince Petru Rareș.
• Dragomirna Monastery – Suceava County. Distinguished by its unusual tall architecture and manuscript tradition.
• Bogdana Monastery – Rădăuți. One of the oldest Moldavian ecclesiastical foundations.
• Râșca Monastery – Suceava County. Important sixteenth-century monastery.
• Bistrița Monastery – Neamț County. Ancient monastery founded by Alexander the Good.

Wallachia and Southern Romania

• Curtea de Argeș Monastery – Argeș County. One of the finest monuments of Wallachian architecture.
• Cozia Monastery – Vâlcea County. Founded by Mircea the Elder in the fourteenth century.
• Hurezi Monastery – Vâlcea County. The masterpiece of the Brâncovenesc style and UNESCO-listed.
• Cernica Monastery – Ilfov County. Historic monastery near Bucharest.
• Pasărea Monastery – Ilfov County. Important women’s monastery near Bucharest.
• Snagov Monastery – Snagov Lake. Ancient island monastery associated by tradition with Vlad Țepeș.
• Dealu Monastery – Târgoviște. Historic princely monastery and burial site of Michael the Brave’s head.
• Țigănești Monastery – Ilfov County. Significant women’s monastery.
• Antim Monastery – Bucharest. Founded by St Antim Ivireanul.
• Radu Vodă Monastery – Bucharest. Major Bucharest monastery with important historical role.
• Comana Monastery – Giurgiu County. Medieval monastery linked to Vlad Țepeș.
• Lainici Monastery – Gorj County. Important monastery in the Jiu Valley.
• Tismana Monastery – Gorj County. The oldest surviving monastery in Wallachia and among the most important in southern Romania.

Transylvania and Banat

• Prislop Monastery – Hunedoara County. Major pilgrimage centre associated with Fr Arsenie Boca.
• Râmeț Monastery – Alba County. Ancient Transylvanian monastery with medieval roots.
• Brâncoveanu Monastery at Sâmbăta de Sus – Brașov County. Important centre of spiritual revival in Transylvania.
• Nicula Monastery – Cluj County. Known for the wonderworking icon of the Mother of God.
• Rohia Monastery – Maramureș County. Monastery of Nicolae Steinhardt.
• Bârsana Monastery – Maramureș County. Modern wooden monastery in traditional Maramureș style.
• Sâmbăta Monastery – Brașov County. Historic Orthodox monastery in the Făgăraș Mountains.
• Recea Monastery – Mureș County. Important women’s monastery of central Romania.
• Partoș Monastery – Timiș County. Associated with St Joseph the New of Partoș.
• Hodoș-Bodrog Monastery – Arad County. One of the oldest monasteries in western Romania.

Dobruja and the Black Sea Region

• Dervent Monastery – Constanța County. Major pilgrimage centre linked to early Christian martyrs.
• Cocoș Monastery – Tulcea County. Historic monastery of northern Dobruja.
• Celic-Dere Monastery – Tulcea County. Important monastic house of Dobruja.
• Techirghiol Monastery – Constanța County. Women’s monastery founded in the twentieth century.
• St Andrew’s Cave Monastery – Constanța County. Associated with the apostolic preaching of St Andrew in Romania.

Female Monasteries and Convents of Special Importance

• Agapia Monastery – Neamț County. One of the largest Orthodox convents in Europe.
• Văratec Monastery – Neamț County. Major women’s monastery with a large monastic population.
• Pasărea Monastery – Ilfov County. Significant convent near Bucharest.
• Țigănești Monastery – Ilfov County. Historic women’s monastery of Wallachia.
• Recea Monastery – Mureș County. One of the major female monasteries of Transylvania.
• Samurcășești Monastery – Ciorogârla. Historic convent near Bucharest.
• Dintr-un Lemn Monastery – Vâlcea County. Important convent associated with a miraculous icon tradition.

Observations

• Moldavia and Bucovina preserve the highest concentration of historically significant Romanian monasteries.
• The painted monasteries of Bucovina form one of the most distinctive artistic and theological ensembles in the Orthodox world.
• Romanian monasticism is especially notable for its continuity of hesychast life, cave asceticism, women’s monasticism, and the coexistence of medieval and modern foundations.
• Among the best-known monasteries internationally are Putna, Neamț, Voroneț, Hurezi, Curtea de Argeș, Prislop, Sihăstria, and Agapia.