The Mraconia Monastery

A visit to the Mraconia Monastery on the Danube

Christine Leșcu, 26.04.2014, 17:24

In western Romania there is a place where the Danube cuts a beautiful gorge into the mountains as it crosses into the country. The area is called Cazane, which means The Cauldrons, and it is the site of the huge hydroelectric plant called The Iron Gates I. The plant was built in the 1960s, and is right now the biggest hydro power plant on the Danube. Building it has taken a lot of sacrifices: the geography was changed and many communities wiped out.

The best-known example is Ada Kaleh, an island surrounded by the waters of the river, inhabited by a flourishing Turkish community, which was forcibly evacuated from the now underwater island. Another building which was swallowed by the rising waters was an old monastery called Mracunia. Now a new monastery stands not very far from the original site bearing a variation of this name, Mraconia. It lies 15 km away from the town of Orsova. Father Viorel Vladucu, a spokesman for the Severin and Strehaia Bishopric, told us about the history of the place and the new monastery.

Father Viorel Vladucu: “Mraconia, or Mraciunea, means ‘secret place’. It has had a troubled history, being plundered by invaders and having to pay tribute to foreign rulers before its final demise when it was covered by the water. It was destroyed during the Russian-Turkish-Austrian war of 1787-1792, rebuilt, and once again razed in 1968. Even though this place of worship has been destroyed several times along the centuries, we now find it once again, and it is beautiful. In 1967, as the Iron Gates hydro plant started being built, the old place was demolished, and its ruins are now covered by the Danube. As the monastery could not be built in the same place, after 1989 the Metropolitan Bishopric of Oltenia took the initiative of restoring it in a new location.”

The old monastery was first mentioned in historical records in 1452, the year of the fall of Constantinople, when the monks of Mracunia took refuge in Orsova, as mentioned in a chronicle of the time. The church was subordinated to the bishopric of Varset in 1523 by Nicola Garlisteanu, the governor of the border region of Caransebes and Lugoj.

Father Viorel Vladucu: “The church at that time was dedicated to St. Elijah and chronicler Nicolae Stoica of Hateg wrote in a chronicle dated 1829 that fleeing Turks, after the unsuccessful battle in Varna and after the fall of Constantinople, the monks of Mraconia had taken refuge in Orsova. The monastery decayed in time, but it was still inhabited in 1788 and its interior plaster was still visible around 1800. In 1823 they found among its ruins the stamp seal of the old church with an interesting inscription in Slavonic. Another interesting discovery was made in 1835 when an icon of the Virgin Mary was found, which was later displayed in an exhibition in Vienna by a painter from Munich. The first plans to rebuild the monastery date back to 1931, but the works did not start until 1947.”

This time, the new monastery only lasted for 20 years. However, in 1995, the Bishopric of Oltenia made the decision to rebuild the monastery close to its original site. Located on a cliff close to the Cazane gorges on the Danube, the church was very difficult to reach in the past. Things have changed in recent years, as father Viorel Vladucu explains.

Father Viorel Vladucu: “While access to the church was very difficult in the past, now there is a road linking Orsova to Moldova Noua, a picturesque road running along the Danube, so many pilgrims can now visit this place easily. A large number of pilgrims have been coming to the church in recent years, also because the Cazane gorges is one of the most beautiful places in Romania. Besides, Mraconia Monastery today lies on the site of a former observation and guiding post, from where navigation on the Danube used to be monitored. The strait is very narrow allowing for the passing of only one ship at a time.”

Several tourist sites are close to Mraconia Monastery, such as the statue of Dacian king Decebalus carved in stone, as well as an inscription reading TABULA TRAIANA, which is actually on the Serbian bank of the river, reminding of a time in ancient history when the invading Roman troops crossed the Danube on their way to the former kingdom of Dacia.