# Horezu Monastery [Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/attractions) › [Oltenia](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/region/oltenia) › [Vâlcea County](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/county/valcea) › [Horezu](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/city/horezu) > Constantin Brâncoveanu's largest foundation, officially Hurezi Monastery: the model ensemble of the Brâncovenesc style, built in 1690–1693 and a UNESCO site since 1993. [UNESCO World Heritage](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/unesco-heritage) · [Top 20 in Romania](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/top-20) **At a glance:** Monasteries in Horezu, Vâlcea County. The visit takes 1 – 1½ hours. Information verified on 7 October 2026. ## Key facts - **Opening hours:** Neither the monastery nor the Archdiocese of Râmnic publishes visiting hours online. As a working convent, visits take place during the day without disturbing the services; check the opening times of the museum collection on site. - **Visit duration:** 1 – 1½ hours — with infirmary and hermitages - **With kids:** Yes — modest dress and quiet - **Best season:** April – October — autumn, with the forests in colour - **Address:** Strada Mănăstirii 164, Romanii de Jos village, ~3.5 km north of the centre of Horezu, Horezu, Vâlcea County - **Coordinates:** 45.1688, 24.0071 - **Website:** https://hurezi.arhiepiscopiaramnicului.ro/ - **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horezu_Monastery - **Wikidata:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q733069 - **Categories:** [Monasteries](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/monasteries), [Museums and memorial houses](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/museums-and-memorial-houses) ## About Horezu Monastery Horezu Monastery, whose historic and official name is Hurezi Monastery, is the most important foundation of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu and the largest monastic ensemble surviving in Wallachia. Brâncoveanu laid the foundations in 1690, in the second year of his reign, on his family's estate below the Căpățânii Mountains; the great church was consecrated on 8 September 1693, and the remaining buildings were finished in 1697. The name comes, tradition says, from the huhurezi, the tawny owls whose calls can be heard at night in the surrounding forests. The prince planned the monastery as his family's burial place and had his own tomb prepared in the narthex. Beheaded in Constantinople in 1714, he was eventually buried in Bucharest, so the tomb at Hurezi remained empty. Beyond its architecture, the monastery was a cultural centre: a rich library and a school of mural and icon painting that influenced religious art across the Balkans. A community of nuns has lived here since 1872. In 1993 the ensemble was inscribed on its own, as a separate site ("Monastery of Horezu"), on the UNESCO World Heritage List. ### What you can see The great church of Saints Constantine and Helena, white, with two towers and a trefoil plan, has an open porch on ten stone columns carved with tendrils and flowers, with painted vaults. In the narthex is the large votive painting of Brâncoveanu, Lady Maria and their children, alongside portraits of the Basarab and Cantacuzino families, and in the nave the gilded limewood iconostasis and the princely throne. The rectangular courtyard is enclosed by arcaded cells on two levels, the princely apartments with the bell tower above the gate (where the collection of icons and church objects is on display), the chapel and the refectory. Don't miss the loggia of Abbot Dionisie Bălăcescu. Outside the walls are the infirmary church built by Lady Maria and two hermitages. ### Good to know It is a working convent: enter in modest dress and keep quiet. In May 2026 the canonisation of St Matrona of Hurezi, a former abbess of the monastery, was proclaimed here. ## Don't miss - The porch of the great church, with its ten carved stone columns and painted vaults. - The votive painting in the narthex, with Constantin Brâncoveanu, Lady Maria and their children. - The empty tomb Brâncoveanu prepared for himself in the narthex of the church. - The loggia of Abbot Dionisie Bălăcescu, with its outside staircase and carved stone balustrade. - The infirmary ensemble, with Lady Maria's church and the kiosk on the wall, on the hill next to the precinct. ## Good to know before you go ### Getting there **By car:** from Râmnicu Vâlcea take the DN67 towards Târgu Jiu, ~44 km (~1 hour) to the town of Horezu; from there follow the signs to the village of Romanii de Jos, another ~3.5 km along Strada Mănăstirii. From Târgu Jiu it is ~72 km on the DN67 (~1½ hours), from Bucharest ~225 km via Pitești and Râmnicu Vâlcea (~3½–4 hours), from Craiova ~115 km (~2½ hours). It combines easily with the pottery workshops of Horezu and with Bistrița Monastery. **Public transport:** Horezu has no railway station; trains run to Râmnicu Vâlcea, from where buses leave for Horezu roughly every hour (~1 hour's journey). From Horezu to the monastery it is ~3.5 km: a taxi or a walk of almost an hour along the paved road. ### Fees & discounts The monastery's website does not publish prices for visiting, for the museum collection or for photography; ask at the gate. ### Rules Modest dress: shoulders and knees covered, women with their heads covered in the church. Keep quiet within the walls and switch phones off during services. Do not take photos in the church without the nuns' permission; do not touch the frescoes or the carved columns. ### Facilities collection of icons and church objects in the princely apartments · monastic icon workshops · guesthouses, restaurants and pottery workshops in the town of Horezu · the courtyard is level and stone-paved, the church has steps at the entrance ## Details - **Construction period:** 1690–1693 - **Founder:** Constantin Brâncoveanu - **Dedication:** Holy Emperors Constantine and Helena - **Denomination:** Orthodox - **Architectural style:** Brâncovenesc - **Collection type:** religious art ## Frequently asked questions about Horezu Monastery **How long does a visit to Horezu Monastery take?** A visit to Horezu Monastery takes about 1 – 1½ hours (with infirmary and hermitages). **Can you visit Horezu Monastery with kids?** Yes, Horezu Monastery is suitable for children (modest dress and quiet). **How do I get to Horezu Monastery?** Horezu Monastery is located at Strada Mănăstirii 164, Romanii de Jos village, ~3.5 km north of the centre of Horezu, Horezu, Vâlcea County. More under “Getting there”. **When is the best time to visit Horezu Monastery?** The best season for Horezu Monastery: April – October (autumn, with the forests in colour). ## Nearby attractions - [Horezu Ceramics – Olari Village and the Potters' Workshops](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/horezu-ceramics-olari-village-and-the-potters-workshops) — Villages and traditions · Horezu, VL · Free · 1 – 1½ hours · 3 km Olari Street in Horezu, lined with family workshops where red clay is thrown on the wheel and painted with roosters, spirals and the tree of life; a craft inscribed by UNESCO as intangible heritage in 2012. - [Bistrița Monastery (Vâlcea)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/bistrita-monastery) — Monasteries · Costești, VL · ½ – 1 hours · 4 km A late 15th-century foundation of the Craiovești boyars at the entrance to the Bistrița Gorges: it keeps the relics of St Gregory the Decapolite and the little infirmary church of 1520–1521. - [Bat Cave at Bistrița (Vâlcea)](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/bat-cave-at-bistrita) — Monasteries · Costești, VL · ½ – 1 hours · 5 km The cave of St Gregory Decapolites, in the Bistrița Gorges near Bistrița Monastery, with two churches built inside: Ovidenia (15th c.) and the Holy Archangels (1633); it shelters bats. - [Arnota Monastery](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/arnota-monastery) — Monasteries · Costești, VL · 45 min · 6 km Matei Basarab's foundation of 1633–1634, on a limestone spur above Bistrița Monastery: a small princely church, painted in 1644, which holds the prince's tomb. - [Wooden Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Grămești](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/wooden-church-of-the-dormition-of-the-mother-of-god-in-gramesti) — Churches · Pietreni, VL · 30 min · 6 km A wooden church of 1664, founded by Metropolitan Stephen I, standing on a high limestone plinth with Cyrillic inscriptions on its outer walls, at the edge of a fir forest. - [Cula Duca](https://peplaiuri.ro/en/cula-duca) — Fortresses and fortifications · Măldărești, VL · 45 min · 7 km An Oltenian fortified tower-house from 1812–1827, with a massive ground floor and a decorated veranda, built by the Măldărescu family and bought in 1910 by I.G. Duca; now part of the Măldărești Museum Complex near Horezu. --- Full page: https://peplaiuri.ro/en/horezu-monastery Other languages: Română: https://peplaiuri.ro/manastirea-horezu.md · Deutsch: https://peplaiuri.ro/de/kloster-horezu.md · Italiano: https://peplaiuri.ro/it/monastero-di-horezu.md · Français: https://peplaiuri.ro/fr/monastere-de-horezu.md · Español: https://peplaiuri.ro/es/monasterio-de-horezu.md · Magyar: https://peplaiuri.ro/hu/horezu-kolostor.md Last updated: 7 October 2026 Source: Pe Plaiuri (https://peplaiuri.ro/en) — Guide to tourist attractions in Romania