Ghighiu Monastery (Ghighiu)

 monastery, orthodox christianity

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyr4PSDza5A

Ghighiu village, Prahova county. Convent for nuns.
Dedication day: “The Curing Spring”, the first Friday after Easter.
In the year 1817, monk Arsenie from Cernica had a wooden church erected on a piece of land which had been donated by Mrs. Uta Cantacuzino-Corneanu. The construction of the church was financed by the Rucareanu family. In 1858, Eftimie and Antonie, the abbots of the monastery, had the church constructed on the same location; the consecration of the church took place on 31st, March 1866.
The paintings of the church were executed in oil by the famous Romanian painter Gheorghe Tattarescu in 1865. Unfortunately, the earthquake in 1940 caused considerable damage to it.
The monastery had been a monk’s community until 1952, when the Patriarch Justinian, transformed it into a nuns community.
Between 1954 and 1956, extensive repairs and restoration activities were initiated by the Patriarch Justinian; the monastic cell (which had been constructed in the Brancoveanu style) and the workshops were also erected at that time.
The disastrous earthquake that struck Romania on 4th, March 1977 caused considerable damage to the church again; consequently, it had to be restored and repainted. The extensive repairs and restoration activities lasted until the 1990, when the church was re-consecrated, in August 1990.
Within the walls of the monastery there stands another small church, which was placed in the churchyard. The construction of this church was financed by Panait Marunteanu and by his wife, Ecaterina, in 1832; its patron saints are Venerable Lazarus, Spyridon, Bishop of Tremithus and Holy Martyr Haralambos.
There is to the monastery a beautiful collection of old liturgical art object.