The Mihai Vodă Monastery, founded by

Mihai Viteazul Michael the Brave ( ro, Mihai Viteazul or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593 – 1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Transylvania (1599 – 1600). ...

, is one of the oldest buildings in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

. It was built in 1591, surrounded by stone walls, similar to a fortress. The monastery buildings served multiple purposes over time such as residence of the country's leaders, military hospital, medical school and the site of the

National Archives of Romania The National Archives of Romania ( ro, Arhivele Naţionale ale României), until 1996 the State Archives (''Arhivele Statului''), are the national archives of Romania, headquartered in Bucharest. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Internal ...

. The monastery was an important archeological site; inside the monastery yard used to be a Dacian archeological site, more than 3000 years old, where old pottery and other relics were found.patriarh.ro
/ref> In 1813 Mihai Vodă Monastery was "one of the largest monasteries of Romania". Between 1908 and 1909,

Cristofi Cerchez Cristofi Cerchez (4 July 1872 – 15 January 1955) was a Romanian engineer and architect. He built approximately 50 buildings in various cities of Romania over his nearly 50-year career. His architecture covers a wide range of styles from traditi ...

, head of architecture for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, supervised work on the State Archives at the Monastery. At the time of the communist regime in 1985, the church building was moved on rails 285 metres east and hidden in its present location on Sapienței street, next to Splaiul Independenței street and Izvor Park. That was to make way for a civic centre. The medieval cloisters and ancillary buildings were demolished. Mihai Vodă Monastery has been included into the List of historical monuments of Romania and has been classified under the code B-II-a-A-19644.

The legend

A legend explains the motivation that led to the foundation of the monastery by

. According to this, in a very very cold winter, probably between years 1589 and 1591, Mihai, the stepson of Pătrașcu cel Bun (in English, "Pătrașcu the Good") was arrested by the leader

Alexandru cel Rău Alexandru III cel Rău (Alexander III the Bad, died 20 March 1597) was the Prince of Wallachia between November 1592 and 1593. He was the son of Bogdan Lăpușneanu, former Prince of Moldavia. Although Alexandru had in his government both local B ...

(in English, "Alexandru the Bad"), who accused him having conspired to gain leadership of the country. Mihai was taken to Saint Antony Square, the place where he should have been decapitated. The road to the square passed by the Church Albă Postăvari, next to the Hill Spirei (in Romanian, Dealul Spirei). Mihai, with permission from his guards, stopped to attend mass at the church and bowed to the icon of Saint Nicholas, promising him to build a monastery nearby if he should escape death. There are three explanations of how Mihai escaped execution by

. The first tells of a ransom paid by 12 aristocrats. The second claims that the physical qualities of Mihai being tall and very handsome caused the executioner, upon seeing Mihai, to throw away his axe and run away. A third version of events says that Mihai was released after the protests of members of the community who had gathered at the place of execution. Once liberated, Mihai kept his promise and built a monastery.

Gallery

File:Manastirea Mihai Voda prezent clopotnita.jpg, File:Manastirea Mihai Voda prezent fata.jpg, File:Bucuresti punte 1837.jpg,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mihai Voda Monastery Religious buildings and structures completed in 1594 Monasteries in Bucharest Romanian Orthodox churches in Bucharest Historic monuments in Bucharest Michael the Brave