Fundătura Rock Hermitage

Fundătura is one of the old rock-hewn monastic settlements of the Buzău Mountains, set on a wooded spur in the Nucu area of Bozioru commune, beneath Crucea Spătarului and Țurțudui Peak (984 m). The church was carved directly into a huge boulder fallen from the slope, forming part of the remarkable complex of rock-cut churches and cells in this part of Buzău County, linked in local tradition to the legendary "Land of Luana". The hermitage is documented in 1678, originally as a hermits' skete, and later appears in princely charters between 1714 and 1783. During the reign of Mihail Șuțu, in 1791, the monks were moved to Găvanele, where a stone church had been completed, and Fundătura became a nuns' skete. As their number exceeded twelve, in 1819 the church was extended with a wooden structure added to the part carved into the rock. With the application of the law secularising monastic estates, in 1864 the skete was decommissioned. Today, the ruins of the rock church survive, hidden beyond a spring, on a grassy spur among orchards and hayfields. The site is of interest for the history of rock-cut monasticism in the Buzău Mountains and for the wild natural setting of the Bozioru–Nucu area.