The monasteries of Bucovina · Putna, Suceava County
XVII century · monks who came from Putna
Quiet, not architecture. Four kilometres from Putna, on the Vițău valley, in a spot chosen precisely to be far from the road. Three monks canonised in 2016 lived here, and their relics are in the small church in the forest.
If you only have a minute
Four kilometres from Putna, on the Vițău valley, in a spot chosen for its quiet. The venerable Sila, Paisie and Natan lived here, canonised in 2016, and their relics lie in the small church in the forest.
What you find only here
Most saints in the calendar come from distant centuries. Sila, Paisie and Natan lived here, on the Vițău valley, and the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church numbered them among the saints in 2016. Their relics are in the small church in the forest, four kilometres from Putna. Few places in Romania have saints this recent, and no other in Bucovina.
Open daily. The road from Putna is short and can be walked.
Hermit settlements were not after grandeur: the church is small and low, the right size for a community of a few monks. The buildings around are recent.
You arrive in the courtyard and look around without knowing where. These are 3 places on the walls that people who know look for.
Sila, Paisie and Natan, canonised in 2016. Few places in Bucovina have saints this recent.
It can be walked, and it is worth it: the hermitage reveals itself only at the end.
The grotto cut into rock where tradition says Stephen's counsellor lived.
Things that are less widely known, and that nobody tells you at the gate.
Sila, Paisie and Natan were numbered among the saints by the Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The grotto cut into rock, where tradition says Stephen's counsellor lived, is a few kilometres away, on the same valley.
If you only have 30 minutes: The church and the reliquary.
The forest opens up.
Cool, even at midday.
The finest walk anywhere around Putna.
Open, but the road demands care.
the burial place of Stephen
the grotto in the rock
Suggested circuit: Putna → Sihăstria Putnei → Daniil's cell, on foot, half a day.
Yes. Sixteen rooms, thirty-two places for pilgrims.
Putna, jud. Suceava · 103 km from Câmpulung Moldovenesc
Further on
Hours and fees change from one season to the next, and we could not confirm them from an official source.
Book direct
No platform fee, because there is nobody in between. You let yourselves in with a code, you leave late if nobody is coming after you, and if plans change you cancel free up to seven days ahead.
Via Transilvanica