Situated at 67 km distance of Ramnicu Valcea, at the foot of Capatinii Mountains, and surrounded by green forests, Hurez Monastery is placed against a picturesque setting whose peace and quiet is broken only by the noise made by eagle owls ("hurez" in Romanian), which actually lent the monastery its name.
Hurez Monastery holds a special place in the Romanian history of art, as it is probably "the most beautiful edifice in the whole of Romania" (Charles Diehl), and, undeniably, the largest and most accomplished medieval ensemble in Wallachia. First and foremost, it defines the Brancovan art style.
The ensemble, which is highly representative for the Romanian culture at its best, comprises, beside the monastery proper, the infirmary church built by Lady Maria, Constantin Brancoveanu's wife (1696), and painted by masters Preda Nicolae and Ianache, the Hermitage St.Apostles, built by the monastery's father superior, Ioan the Archimandrate (1698) - his tomb is within the main church -, and painted by masters Iosif and Ion (1700), the Hermitage St.Stephen, built by Stefan, Brancoveanu's oldest son (1703), and painted by masters Ianache, Istrate and Hramite.
The construction works were carried on between 1690 and 1697, and were supervised by two high dignitaries at Brancoveanu's court, namely Parvu Cantacuzino, related to the prince, and Cernica Stirbei. The master artists who raised the church were Manea for masonry, Istrate for wood work and carvings, and Vucasin Caragea for stone cutting and carving. They are all painted on a mural in the church porch. The interior frescoes of the church and narthex were made by master painters Constantin, Ioan, Andrei, Stan, Neagoe and Ioachim.
Hurez Monastery has two precincts. The exterior one has strong brick walls with an original gate braced in iron, a belfry tower with four large bells weighing between 300 and 1,000 kg each, and having Brancoveanu's name engraved on them, and a one-storey building on the right. The interior precinct has a rectangular form being enclosed on three sides by one-storey buildings with cells on two levels, whereas the eastern side presents a tall wall typical to precinct monasteries. The former princely residence, which now holds the museum of the monastery, is placed on the south side; it has large halls with arched vaults, as well as spheric calottes on long arches, supported by monumental columns carved in stone at their bases and caps.
The chapel situated in the middle of the western wall of the interior precinct has been erected in 1697; it has an especially harmonious and elegant architecture, with a square nave, an octogonal steeple with eight windows and a semicircular sanctuary. Preda and Marin's frescoes presenting Emperor Constantine and his mother Helen, the patrons of the ensemble, along with Brancoveanu and his family, are well-preserved. So is the altar screen carved in wood, with gilded and vividly coloured decorations.
In the middle of the latter precinct is the "large church", imposing by its sizes: 32 m long, and 14 m wide. It is a simplified version of the See Church of Curtea de Arges, (founded by prince Neagoe Basarab), with a three-cusped plan and the classic division of all Orthodox religious edifices, including a porch, a narthex, a nave and a sanctuary. The entrance door is carved in pear wood, with a marble frame decorated with acanthus leaves, sun-flowers and pumpkin flowers (elements typical to Brancovan sculpture, and displaying the Wallachian princely family of Cantacuzins' coat-of-arms along with the votive tablet of the church. The porch is monumental, with three spheric calottes supported by three stone columns, decorated with acanthus leaves at their lower part and ending in Corinthian caps. The exterior of the church is tributary to the simple architectural style adopted during prince Matei Basarab's rule (1632-1654), one of Constantin Brancoveanu's illustrious ancestors. The fatades are painted white, being divided into two parts by the traditional belt with floral motifs in relief.
One should also mention the refectory, holding frescoes from 1705, the chapel with a steeple (1696-1706), and what is coined today as a masterpiece of Brancovan sculpture, Dionisie's fire-tower (1753). Carved in stone by master Iosif, the fire-tower is supported by columns and banisters with stalks, acanthus, leaves and cable moulding flutings. Dionisie Balacescu was the name of the monastery's Father Superior at the time, and he was a learned man, and an enlightened scholar who actually anticipated, over a century earlier, the union between Wallachia and Moldavia: one banister of the fire-tower holds together the heraldic emblems of the two Romanian countries representing a raven with a cross in its beak and the head of an aurochs, respectively.
The original indoor murals display religious scenes of the Old and the New Testaments, and ecumenical synods separated by floral decorations in bright colours. Alongside religious iconography, one can find secular themes, i.e. the illustrated life of Emperor Constantine the Great, whose name was attached to the triumph of Christendom over the islamic world. Moreover, the appeal to Constantine de Great, and the homonymy of names between the Wallachian prince and the first Christian emperor and founder of Constantinople testifies to the traditionally dynastic mentality of Constantin Brancoveanu. His ideal position as a protector of the Eastern World against Turks was supported by the religious elation according to which Constantin Brancoveanu was called to continue Constantine the Great's glorious deeds. Thus Brancoveanu revives the tradition of militant painting present in Wallachia during Neagoe Basarab's rule, as well as in Moldavia, during Stephen the Great's and Petru Rares' times.
The best preserved original paintings, dating from 1705-1706, are to be found in the nuns' refectory and in the narthex, which hold a whole gallery of portraits: Constantin Brancoveanu, his wife and children, along with their direct relatives of the Basarabs' and Cantacuzins' princely families. They bear witness to Brancoveanu's taste for heroic attitudes and dazzling pomp, as purple red and gold, primarily sumptuous colours, with an acknowledged monarchic connotation, are prevailing.
The church was designed to be a princely necropolis for Brancoveanu and his family, but it holds now only one of the prince's daughters tomb. The "prince of gold", as the Turks would call him, had a violent death: on August 15th, 1714, prince Constantin Brancoveanu, his four sons and his counsellor were beheaded by the Turks in Istanbul. As a homage paid to them, the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized them as saint-martyrs, and they are celebrated every August the 16th.
Between 1690-1872, Hurez Monastery was a monk community. In times of war, monks would be sieged by Turks and Austrians (1787-1792), or they would offer shelter to the refugees. Tudor Vladimirescu, a well-known Romanian patriot, used the Hurez Monastery as a defence fortress during the 1821 revolution. The marks of numerous sieges are still preserved by the Monastery's iron gates. In times of peace, the monks used to translate books, to copy, and print manuscripts. They even set up a school of copying manuscripts. Some of their works are held by the library of the monastery, boasting some 4,000 volumes; it seems that Brancoveanu's humanistic library was unique in South-Eastern Europe in the 18th c. Likewise, at Hurez Monastery developed an outstanding painting school which strongly influenced Romanian religious styles in the 18th century.
Served by 50 nuns, the monastery is particularly well-preserved and administered. Small groups of visitors (2-12) can seek accommodation, as the monastery has brand-new 2 star hotel facilities.