Holy Cross Monastery — Attraction in Târlișua

The monastery with 189 relics.

It is a new monastery, recently built, completed about in the year 2000, and dedicated to the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary". The parking lot is right next to the monastery and it is very large - for about 200 cars.

The tower from the entrance, the belfry, looks like a building cut out of story books, it is very interesting, ingeniously built and with a special architecture, leaving the impression that you are entering a fairy tale land. The interior of the monastery is dominated by greenery, trees - especially Christmas trees, and flowers, a lot of flowers, which betrays that the souls who take care of it are nuns. At least this is what I found from the many visits I made to monasteries, that the abundance of flowers in the courtyard of a monastery is proof of the existence of women in that monastery. So it's a nunnery.

Right next to the entrance there are the restrooms and a small church store. And since the monastery also has its own creative workshops, you can find exposed, for sale, church vestments but also paintings painted there, very beautiful, even impressive.

The monastery church is located in the center of the monastery grounds and you reach it, from the entrance, walking along an alley, about 50 meters long, lined with tall flowers and Christmas trees. Before you get to the church, on the left side is a small troit, with the icon of the Mother of God where, if you want and have time, you can say a prayer - it is said to catch well.

The church has an interesting architecture and the exterior is painted in light colors, the painted themes bringing more with the monasteries from Moldova. It is worth taking a tour around the church because the paintings are interesting, the scene of the Last Judgment, the scale of virtues and heaven and hell are present in the themes addressed, I repeat, similar to the themes of the monasteries in Moldova more than those in Transilvania.

The interior of the church is bright, painted in light colors which somehow amplifies the light entering through the upper windows. In addition to the classical paintings, specific to orthodoxy, what I noticed in the church was the unusual presence of many boxes with relics. I counted 188 relics in boxes and one separately, of Saint Hierarch Nectarius of Neghina. And, in addition, in the church there are more icons of the Mother of God than I have seen in other churches, a fact that can be traced to the patron of the church.

In addition, what I have not seen in other churches, there are some clothing items of some saints display. In a box there were 2 shoes on display, one of Saint Gerasim and one of Saint Ephrem which matched but were of different sizes - so if you think of something..., it doesn't work. Also there were a piece from the Girdle of the Mother of God and a piece from Christ's shirt, but they are so small that I couldn't seen them even with glasses. But it doesn't matter if it's about faith.

On the left side of the pavilion is a new, rebuilt wooden church, relocated from a small village - Corbești, at the initiative of the mother abbess, a small church that was destroyed by a small tornado and abandoned by the inhabitants of that village (they built a new one) although it was more than 200 years old.

There is also a place for lighting candles, built as a rather large room but the interior is poorly designed because it has no ventilation and although the doors were wide open, inside it was hot air that was hard to breathe because of the burning candles.

What I noticed is that the prices for church items are reasonable, for diptych you pay how much you want, money is not collected during the service (as in many churches) and there is no mercy box.

Is it worth visiting the monastery? Yes, it's worth it because it's something pleasing to the eye, especially on sunny days, it's something unique to visit and it's an oasis of peace in the tumult of the city which can help you with a short meditation or prayer, it depends.

Have...

Very interesting place. Located away from the city center, from the outside it looks like a simple building with high walls. Inside, all the beauty. The inner courtyard is all decorated with beautiful frescoes. There is a working fountain. You can go in and see the church from the inside. There is a car park nearby. A free toilet is inside, and there is a souvenir shop....

Amazing. From the outside it looks like it could be a warehouse as the monks rooms rear walls face the street so they are blank. Once inside it is amazing not only is the monastery beautiful but the grounds are wonderfully landscaped. Unbelievably quiet...