Dălhăuți Monastery

Dălhăuți Monastery is situated within the area of the village of Dălhăuți, commune of Cârligele, Vrancea County, in the midst of a forest of majestic trees. According to legend, it was founded between 1461 and 1468 by two shepherds originally from Dobrogea, the brothers Anufie and Irapalie Dălhăuș, who saw an unusual light deep in the forest and heard a voice saying: "Here is the Spring of My Gifts." The first documentary attestation dates from 1625. The monastery is unique in that its grounds encompass three churches. The first, dedicated to "Izvorul Tămăduirii" (the Healing Spring), was restored in 1828 and rebuilt from its foundations in the 1920s, being consecrated in 1929; the second, dedicated to "Sfinții Arhangheli Mihail și Gavriil" (the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel), was built from wooden beams in 1810 on the site of an earlier church dating from 1625, and was declared a historical monument in 2015; the third, dedicated to "Sfinții Împărați Constantin și Elena" (the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helen), built between 1840 and 1850, has been in a state of ruin since the 1977 earthquake. One of the reasons the monastery was renowned throughout Țara Românească and Moldova is the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God, which is still preserved in the church today. It functioned as a monastery for monks from its founding until it was dissolved under communist decree no. 410/1959, and was reactivated in 1990 as a convent for nuns. In the monastery's courtyard, visitors can admire the relics of the Holy Martyr Talaleus and of Saint Ignatie cel Nou, alongside a museum housing icons painted on wood and canvas, a 19th-century iconostasis, and old religious books. This monastery was home to Saint Vasile, the Venerable Abbot of Poiana Mărului Monastery — one of the prominent figures of Romanian Orthodox spirituality in the 18th century.