Description of the attraction
The Holy Ascension New Nyametsky Monastery in the Transnistrian village of Chitcani, 6 km south of Tiraspol, is an Orthodox male monastery. The monastic ensemble consists of four churches: the Holy Ascension Cathedral (summer), the Assumption Church (winter), the Exaltation of the Cross Church (refectory) and St. Nicholas Church (seminary).
The Chitcani Monastery is a successor to the traditions of the Nyametskaya Lavra, which is located on the territory of Moldova. The Zaprutskaya Nyametskaya Lavra was once one of the largest medieval centers of Moldovan education and culture. However, over time, the monks were forbidden to hold services in the Church Slavonic language, after which they were forced to leave for Bessarabia. The New Nyametsky Monastery in Chitcani was founded in 1864 by monks of the Nyametsky Moldavian Lavra, namely, Hieromonk Theophan Christi and Hieroschemamonk Andronic.
The construction of the monastery lasted for almost half a century. The Ascension Cathedral and the bell tower in 1864 were designed by an unknown St. Petersburg architect. In the first half of the twentieth century. the rest of the monastery buildings were built: a hospital, a stone kitchen, a refectory, a building for cells and a gate bell tower. At one time, the monastery bell tower with a height of 69 m was the highest in the country. In 1862 the village of Kitskany became the property of the monastery.
In May 1962 the monastery was closed. A tuberculosis hospital was placed on its territory, and a museum of military glory of the Jassy-Chisinau operation was opened in the bell tower. As a result of these events, the monastery fell into decay, and all its property was simply plundered.
The revival of the Holy Ascension Novo-Nyametsky Monastery began in 1990. Church life gradually improved, churches, monastic cells and a bell tower were restored.
A beautiful oak alley leads to the monastery. Figures of novices are carved into the tree trunks. In addition to churches and brotherly cells, there is a church museum, hotels for pilgrims, a library where old books, documents and miniatures of the 15th-19th centuries are kept, as well as an icon-painting workshop and a printing house.
