The Secu Monastery is a religious complex located near the Secu brook on the foot of the Vasan Mountain. It resembles a medieval city with its defence Towers. The buildings as we see them nowadays date back to 1602 and were built by Nesta Ureche.
According to historical accounts following the battle with Turks in 1821, the church was burned down, having had to be later reconstructed together with the walls of most of the cells, so in 1832 a new clover-shaped church was erected where the old wooden church had stood. It was made of stone and the wall which separates the altar from the rest was remade out of lime tree and sculpted in a baroque style.
We were guided through the complex by a young monk who despite not being fluent in French made a thorough presentation of every place we visited within the ensemble and answered every question he was prompted. He would later join us for lunch, though he didn't sit in but rather "conducted" the complicated scheme of bringing in the different "delicacies" we were presented with.
The most important icon is a Saint Mary painting brought from Cyprus in 1647 and offered to the Monastery by the ruler Vasili Lupu as a gift, this being the reason why it is known as the Cypriot icon.
We then visited a small Museum-like room up on one of the surrounding buildings which housed a few valuable religious artefacts before gathering in a dining-room where we would be served the most fantastic lunch ever not only because of the atmosphere but also the food, which was meticulously well prepared and definitely had us in a state of almost absolute ecstasy.
I really enjoyed this morning "experience" because it did allow us to see a convent from an inside perspective, apart from having provided us with the opportunity of directly talking to the monks and ask them those questions one always has regarding the "religious" life beyond what one has read or been told.
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