Sâmbăta de Sus Monastery

The monastery was founded by Constantin Brâncoveanu at the end of the seventeenth century, destroyed by Habsburg forces in the eighteenth during the pressure on Orthodox communities, and left in ruins for two hundred years before being rebuilt from the 1920s and completed in stages through the twentieth century. The result is a large complex in the Brâncovenesc manner, with a stone-carved porch, painted interior, and extensive later ranges around courtyards, all set on the last slope before the Făgăraș wall rises behind it. It has become one of the most visited monasteries in Transylvania, particularly for the icon-painting school here and for the glass icon collection in its museum. The setting is genuinely fine, with forest above and the mountains close, and a road continues past it up to the Bâlea valley trailhead for walkers heading into the range.

What you actually see

• The rebuilt church - Brâncovenesc carving and painted interior.
• The glass icon museum - a notable collection of Transylvanian glass icons.
• The icon-painting school - working studios attached to the monastery.
• The mountain setting - the Făgăraș wall rising immediately behind.

When to go

Year-round. Feast days and summer weekends bring very large numbers of pilgrims and the car park overflows. Winter is quiet and the mountains behind are at their most dramatic. Early morning is best for a calm visit.

Honest expectations

Almost everything you see is twentieth-century work rather than the original foundation, which surprises those who come for a seventeenth-century monastery. It is busy and can feel more like a pilgrimage site than a historic monument. Modest dress is expected and photography is restricted indoors. Parking is difficult in season.

Nearby

Cârța abbey ruin is west; the Transfăgărășan climbs into the mountains nearby.