Putna Monastery

The legend history of the place

Stephen, the glorious Romanian voivode, the son of Bogdan the Second, the future prince of Moldavia, also known as the Great, one of the best army commanders of all times, a genius in politics, as well as in diplomacy, a fine organizer and promoter of Romanian culture, was born in 1435.

According to an old folklore tradition, after each battle Stephen the Great would have erected a church. That's why some said "how many wars they fought, as many monasteries and churches they built".

Legend says that Stephen the Great, having once been defeated and wounded in battle and wandering around the country, at last reached the dwelling place of Daniil the Hermit, who gave him food and shelter. In the middle of the night, the hermit took Stephen by the hand and led him out of the cell, pointing towards a certain spot in the distance and asking him three times in a row whether he saw anything there. The third time, the voivode answered that he saw some lights, to which the hermit replied that those were not lights, but angels, and that the place is sacred. He added that, if he wanted to defeat his enemies, he should build a monastery on that very spot.

According to the most widespread legend regarding the foundation of the Putna monastery, the choice of this place would have been decided with the bow and arrow.These would have been the tools for designing the edifice, the "compass" and " ruler" with the help of which its coordinates were drawn. “The voivode Stephen shot an arrow from a mountain top which is not far from where the monastery stands today. And where the arrow landed, the altar was built. He also had three country squires shoot their arrows, the children’s bailiff and two pages. So where the arrow of the children’s bailiff landed, there they made the gate, and where the arrow of one of the pages landed, the belfry was built.” The mountain from where the arrows were shot is named the “Crucisorul”, or the “Hill of the Cross”, and lies south-east of the monastery, on the opposite bank of the Putna brook. 

In the end, Voivode Stephen the Great was buried here.

Today, this place is 127 kilometers from Vatra Dornei and 68 kilometers from Suceava.

Tourist season program (May – September)
Monday – Sunday: 08:30 – 20:00
Putna Monastery, off-season program (October – April)
Monday – Sunday: 09:00 – 17:00