The Silver Forest
 
On the route to Văratec, close to the holy site, in a charming natural environment, on the right side of the road, travellers set their eyes on the The Silver Forest – a protected forestry and landscape reserve since 1972. Covering some 2.5 hectares, the forest belongs to the Vânători-Neamţ Natural Park. Passing by, travellers cannot help remembering Eminescu’s well-known poem dedicated to the forest, mainly birches, some of which around one hundred years old.
The Brass Woods
Between the Agapia and Văratec convents, on Filiorul hill, at a height …

 
 
2018
 
 

 
Ion Creangă

Memorial Museum
 
 
 
The museum, organised in 1951, is located in the village of Humuleşti, where the brilliant storyteller, who humbly described himself as a “lump of dust,” came to this world on 1 March 1837. The house where the great writer was born and spent his childhood had been rebuilt in 1830, by his paternal grandfather (Petrea Ciubotariul), is now an authentic evidence of folk architecture.
The museum illustrates a comprehensive universe of mid-nineteenth century rural life universe – along with the many artefacts and household tools – the picturesque flavour …

 
 
Christmas 2017
 
 

 
Veronica Micle
Memorial House
 
 
 
The house, located at the old heart of the town of Târgu-Neamţ, was built in wood and brick by the Neamţ Monastery in 1834, in the most authentic Romanian style, intended to be a school or a hostel. The house was bought in 1850 by the poet’s mother, a recent refugee from Transylvania (the Năsăud area) due to the Hungarian authorities’ persecution. The house – with three rooms viewing on the street, a basement, stables, a well, and an orchard – was given to Veronica as dowry …

 
Agapia Convent
 
 
 
The convent seems to have taken its name from the hermit Agape, who erected the first monastic site around 1380, in Agapia Veche. The current religious establishment, 2 km downstream from the former, was commissioned by the Minister of War [“hatman”] Gavril, Prince Vasile Lupu’s brother, in 1644. Throughout the centuries, the monastery underwent repeated looting, destruction, or even fires, but it was restored and consolidated time and time again.
The inside painting adds a special value to this monument as it was painted by the very young Nicolae Grigorescu …

 
Văratec Convent
 
 
 
We owe the current church of the largest convent in Romania – built on the site of the former building commissioned by Sister Olimpiada, the Mother Superior, and by father confessor Iosif in 1785 – to the idea and efforts of Sister Nazaria, the Mother Superior between 1808 and 1812. The two bell-shaped domes add to the uniqueness of this neo-Byzantine religious site. Inside, between the nave and the narthex, there are two massive pillars, with Ionic capitals. The painting on the inside walls date to the nineteenth century.
The …