Photo of the Week – Into Moldova: The Frumoasa Monastery

As I prepare to write the story of my visit to the Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet socialist republic, I thought this week’s Photo of the Week could be a good initial way to share one of the things that the country has to offer:  its monasteries and churches.

The Frumoasa Monastery (which was on our way to the better known and more significant Curchi Monastery) was my first stop after entering Moldova from Romania near Iasi.  It is a nun monastery today, as it was for a few years pre-World War II and Soviet communism.

As many monasteries in Moldova, they were severely damaged either intentionally and/or by fire and restored after the fall of communism.  Also, as most former monasteries during Soviet communism in Moldova, this one was used for non-religious purposes during that era having served as an orphanage, a school for deaf children, a colony for girls, and even a dancing club for children.  Different buildings in the complex were used for different purposes.

While communism severely damaged the original buildings and likely destroyed original architecture, artwork, and documents, the dedication shown post-communism to restore these jewels of Moldova speaks a lot about the Moldovan people, and humans in general:  no political system can really remove a people’s faith.  Most monasteries I visited had a lot of the faithful -young and old- coming in for prayers.

Frumoasa Monastery and Church