Tipova Monastery, Moldova
Tipova Monastery is a Moldavian Orthodox cave monastery located on the rocky side of the Nistru river about 100 kilometers north of Chisinau, capital city of Moldova. The cave monastery was constructed in the 16th to the 18th century or by some estimations sometime between the 10th and the 12th century. The last part of the Tipova monastery hewn in a rock of was constructed in 1756.Tipova Monastery was closed and partly destroyed during the Soviet period but the ruins of the monastery came under state protection in 1975. The religious services were renewed in 1994.
The monastery is famous for abnormal phenomena and is surrounded with many legends. According to one legend Moldavian Tsar Stefan the Great (c. 1437-1504) married with Maria Voichita in Tipova Monastery, while the other legend says that the mythological poet Orpheus spent his last days at the rocks.
