Tazlău Monastery

Tazlău Monastery stands at 188 Ștefan cel Mare Street in the village of Tazlău, Tazlău commune, Neamț County, and belongs to the Archdiocese of Iași. It is a monastery for monks dedicated to the Nativity of the Mother of God. The monastic settlement is first mentioned in a document of 30 October 1458, in which Stephen the Great, at the request of Abbot Eustatie of Bistrița Monastery, confirmed the boundaries of Tazlău Monastery's estate. The stone church was built in 1496-1497 on the site of a wooden church from the reign of Alexander the Good (Alexandru cel Bun). In 1514 it was plundered by Székely bands, and towards the end of the seventeenth century it was dedicated to the patriarchates of Constantinople and Jerusalem. Prince Petru Rareș built the bell tower at the entrance, and in the mid-seventeenth century Archimandrite Zaharia built the abbot's palace. In 1858-1859 the church was repaired and repainted. After the fire of 8 February 1879 monastic life ceased; the church was restored in 1894 and served as the village parish church, and in 1990 it became a monastery again. The church has a trefoil plan, with stone walls more than a metre thick, a sanctuary, nave, narthex and a closed porch added in the sixteenth century. The facades are decorated with two rows of niches under the cornice and with tall blind arches. The iconostasis, from 1852, is carved and gilded limewood. The interior painting of 1858-1859 was done by Greek and Romanian painters, mostly in tempera; on the west wall of the narthex is the votive portrait, in oil, of Stephen the Great, Lady Maria and their sons Bogdan and Alexandru. The precinct is entered through the bell tower, which stands 15 m east of the church, is 14 m high and holds three bells; the ruins of the palace, cellar and refectory survive inside the walls. Venerable Chiriac of Tazlău (seventeenth century), one of the Romanian saints venerated by the Romanian Orthodox Church, lived at Tazlău. The complex is a class A historic monument (LMI code NT-II-a-A-10706) comprising the church (NT-II-m-A-10706.01), the ruins of the palace, cellar and refectory (NT-II-m-A-10706.02), the bell tower (NT-II-m-A-10706.05), the watchtower (NT-II-m-A-10706.06) and the enclosure wall (NT-II-m-A-10706.07). It was restored with European funds in works that lasted about five years, and the church was reconsecrated in July 2024 by Metropolitan Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina. The monastery is open to visitors.