Tourist attractions - Vaslui

Husi Bishopric, Husi Municipality
 
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Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19, Vaslui County

(code LMI 2004: VS-II-a-A-06839)                             

 

 

It was settled in 1598 at the royal court founded by Stephan the Great at the end of the 15th century. It was disestablished in 1949, being merged with the Roman Bishopric until 1996, when it was reinstated. It served as a monastery during these years. Huşi diocese initially consisted in the counties of: Fălciu (on both banks of Prut River), Lăpuşna and Orhei and Soroca from Bassarabia, lost in 1812. in 1913 it received Vaslui County instead, and in 1852, the districts of Tutova and Covurlui. In 1864, instead of the region of Covurlui, it took jurisdiction over Cahul district which was lost in 1878. Its jurisdiction extended at the date of the disestablishment, over the counties of Fălciu, Tutova and Vaslui (today, Vaslui County).

 

Many of the hierarchs in Huşi count themselves with honor among the great cultural personalities of the country: Metropolitan Dosoftei, author of “Rhymed Psalter” (1673); Mitrofan, who printed the “Bucharest Bible” in 1688; Veniamin Costache, founding member of Mihăileană Academy of Iaşi (1836); Melchisedec Ştefănescu, member of the Romanian Academic Society (1870); Iosif Gheorghian, honorary member of the Romanian Academy (1901); the Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu, honorary member of the Romanian Academy (1918);  Iacov Antonovici, correspondent member of the Commission for Historic Monuments (1914) and the Romanian Academy (1919), founder of the diocesan museum (1926); Grigorie Leu, who endowed the episcopate with a printing press (1942); His Sanctity Ioachim, founder of the old book repository (1983) and the current diocesan museum (1996-2004).

 

A series of schools intermittently run by the episcopate in their own cells and buildings: the school founded by mandate of Lord Grigore II Ghica, where the Book of Hours and the Psalter were taught in Slavonic and Romanian (1747), the school for catechists (1846–1859, 1892-1949), the Orthodox seminar (1852-1893, 1919-1931), the last two resuming their activity after 1996, in the new center.         

 

Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles Church (1495), the Episcopal Palace (1782–1792), also including the royal house cellars, the cells, the precinct wall (1826 –1848) and belfry gate (1938) make a homogeneous assembly, although built in various stages, morphologically indebted to Baroque and Neoclassical styles.

 

 

Saints Peter and Paul Church of Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19, (code LMI 2004: VS-II-a-A-06839.01)

 

Built between 1753 and 1756 by Bishop Inochentie, enjoying the support of Lord Matei Ghica, the current church keeps the foundations and religious inscription in Slavonic of the royal church founded in 1495 by the ruler Stephan the Great. It was in turn a royal church, a monastery church and, from 1598 on (with a recess between 1949 and 1996), Huşi Bishopric Cathedral. Burnt and damaged by earthquakes, it was many times repaired, suffering major transformations. It was rebuilt from window level after the earthquake in 1802, with the exception of the nave spire, rebuilt between 1887-1889 by Bishop Silvestru Bălănescu. In 1849, the catapetasma (altar screen) painted in 1784 by painter Nicolae Moscovli, was replaced with a new one by Bishop Sofronie Miclescu. Between 1910 and 1911, during the bishopric of Conon Arămescu-Donici, the porch was expanded, the two “diaconicon” (place in the altar where the liturgical vestments are kept) being added, attached on both sides of the alter apse, and expanding also the “proscomidia” (an adjoining space of the alter where a special mass is held in the memory of the founders of that place of worship). Due to the earthquakes the porch was modified again between 1941 and 1945. The church was consolidated, the wall painting was remade and the iconostasis and furniture were renewed after 1996.

 

Three-apse plan church, with steeple on the nave and belfry on the narthex. The facades of Baroque style keep the traditional organization on two registers separated by a girdle. It is covered in the interior by a calotte on pendentives and transverse arches in the narthex, an octagonal-section steeple supported on transverse arches and engaged columns in the nave and semi-calottes in the altar and lateral apses. The wall painting of Gheorghe Tattarescu (1890-1891) was repainted in 1943-1945 and 1997-1998. The cathedral holds the tombs of the bishops:: Inochentie (1752-1782) and Meletie Istrati (1851-1857), and the cenotaph of Veniamin Costache, bishop of Huşi (1792-1796) and metropolitan of Moldavia (1803-1843) is found in the courtyard, built by Bishop Silvestru Bălănescu in 1893, the tombs of bishops: Iacov Antonovici (1924-1931) and Grigore Leu (1940-1949).

 

The collection of art and religious objects is exhibited at the Diocesan Museum, on 10 1 Decembrie Str., and at the Vaslui County Museum.

 

 

The Episcopal Palace of Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19, Vaslui County (code LMI 2004: VS-II-m-A-06839.02)

 

 

It was built between 1771 and 1792, at Bishop Inochentie’s initiative and it was finished by Bishop Iacob Stamati, on the site of the Episcopal houses, burnt in 1711 and rebuilt in 1714 by Bishop Sava, with Lord Nicolae Mavrocordat’s support, on the ruins of the former royal palace (15th – 17th centuries), also including the cellars from the times of Stephen the Great. According to Dan Iorest’s sketch from 1771, “the stone house built now on the cellars” had a rectangular plan, two levels, with main access from the interior courtyard, pyramidal tower roof and clapboarding. Burnt in 1813, it was rebuilt by Bishop Sofronie Miclescu in 1849. The facades were subject to some changes in 1890 and 1934-1938, when the porches on the south and north sides were modified.

 

A former centre of the diocesan museum, founded by Bishop Iacov Antonovici between 1926-1949 and reinstated by His Sanctity Ioachim in 1983-2004, as well as of the municipal museum between 1960-1982, it serves today as bishop’s dwelling place.

 

 

Rectangular-plan building, with marked setbacks on the eastern, northern and southern facades, ground floor and first floor on preceding cellars (15th century). In the interior, the rooms are symmetrically arranged, organized according to a central hallway with monumental wooden stairs. The facades are Neoclassical with Baroque elements.

 

 

The cellars of the royal house in Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19, Vaslui County (code LMI 2004: VS-II-m-A-06839.03)

 

 

Of the royal house, built by Stephen the Great in the 15th century, only the cellars remain included in the 17th – 18th centuries in the current Episcopal palace.

 

Rooms with stone and brick walls and semi-cylindrical vaults and stone stairways.

 

 

Gate Tower and Belfry of Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19, Vaslui County (code LMI 2004: VS-II-m-A-06839.04)

 

 

Founded in 1938 by Bishop Nifon Criveanu, based on a project made by architect D. Ionescu-Berechet, on the site of the former gate from the times of Lord Petru Rareş (1527-1538, 1541-1546), rebuilt in 1714 by Bishop Sava, with Lord Nicolae Mavrocordat’s support and restored by Bishop Sofronie Miclescu in 1849, together with the precinct wall.

 

The belfry tower, of square section and for levels, has the semicircular-span roadway gate at its base. It stands at the corners on by-steps buttresses and it is flanked by two short elements with access to the tower and the gatekeeper’s dwelling. The bell room is marked in a register of braced niches.

 

 

 

The Precinct Wall and Cells of Huşi Bishopric, Huşi Municipality, Str. M. Kogălniceanu, nr. 19,  Vaslui County (code LMI 2004:VS-II-m-A-06839.05)

 

 

The precinct wall and cells were built between 1826 and 1849 by Bishop Sofronie Miclescu, on the site of the old stone constructions, built in 1714 by Bishop Sava, with Lord Nicolae Mavrocordat’s support, rebuilt by Bishop Inochentie in 1771-1774 and renovated by Bishop Nifon Criveanu, in 1934. In 1771, the rectangular precinct sheltered: the church founded by Stephen the Great, the big fountain (south from the church), the small fountain for the “cuhnia” (monastery kitchen) and horses (south), old cells (south-west), stone house “built now on the cellars” (today, the Episcopal Palace), the “cuhnia” and kitchen “also built now” (south), the wicket gate leading to the garden and the stone pond (south-east), the granary (north-east), the old „bed” cells (north-east), the gate (where it still is today), the wicket gate, which led into the orchard (west), where the sexton’s house and the fountain “on pots” were found. The school was outside the precinct, to the east.

 

The singing school (1846-1859, 1892-1939) and the seminar (1851-1859, 1919-1931) were run in the cells.

 

The current cell building located on the north-east side of the precinct has a rectangular plan, rooms arranged in a row and portico with brick columns, now provided with windows. The fence of stone parapet and metal lattice, follows the route of the former precinct wall.

 

 

Huşi Diocesan Museum, Huşi Municipality, str. 1 Decembrie nr. 10

 

 

 

Huşi Diocesan Museum was built by the scholar bishop Iacov Antonovici in 1926, under the custody of the passionate collector, the priest Vasile Ursăcescu, both of them correspondent members of the Commission for Historic Monuments, in 1914 and 1924, respectively. In 1949, when the bishopric was disestablished, the museum stopped its activity, and the most of the goods were dissipated. The museum was reorganized during 1893-1996, in the Episcopal Palace due to the endeavor of His Sanctity Ioachim, bishop of Huşi. It runs since 2004, in its current space especially arranged in a building from the end of the 19th century, donated by Mihai Berea from Bucharest. The intrinsic value of this museum and the founders’ contribution was rewarded in 2004 by the Ministry of Culture and Cults with the „Iulian Antonescu” special prize for museology.

 

Settlement of Orthodox culture and spirituality, the museum includes the most valuable evidence of plastic and decorative art in the Huşi bishopric (16th – 19th centuries), as well as an important treasury of Romanian and foreign old books (17th – 19th centuries) [1].

 

 

 

 



[1] Visiting hours: upon request. Romania, Vaslui County – Huşi Bishopric, Huşi, 19 Mihail Kogălniceanu Str., code: 735.100; phone/fax: 0040-0235-481538, 481138.

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