| Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Town or city | Bodrogu Nou, Arad County |
| Country | Romania |
The Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery is one of the oldest monastic institutions belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church. The monastery is attested from the 12th century. It was initially founded on the northern bank of the lower Mureş River (in western Romania, between the current city of Arad and the Hungarian border).
The Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery was first recorded in a charter document of the Arad chapter of the church, dated 1177. Other documents have been dated 1216, 1233, and 1278.
The present church of the monastery was built around 1370, according to a triconch plan (Having apses with semi-domes on three sides of a square chamber), at a time when this architecture was spreading to Moldavia and Wallachia, the other Romanian provinces.
The Hodoş-Bodrog Monastery was also under Ottoman domination between 1556 and 1699. The Ottoman rule was briefly interrupted for a short time by the struggle for the independence and unification of the Romanian countries, led by Michael the Brave (1595). It is likely that, during the military operations, the monastery suffered serious damages. The monastery was rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century, thanks to bishop Sava I Brancovici, who resided in Lipova and later in Ineu (towns in what is now Arad County, Romania).
In the following decades, although continuing to suffer under the Ottoman rule, and even the hardships induced by the Transylvanian nobility, the monastery housed the residence of the bishops who shepherded this area. Among these were Sofronie, who visited Russia in 1651, and Isaia Diacovici, who stayed at Hodoş-Bodrog around 1694 (he would later established the Hodoş-Bodrog as the seat of the diocese of Ineu and Timişoara).
From the last decade of the 17th century until 1864, the monastery was under the jurisdiction of the Karlowitz metropolitans (Karlowitz, Serbia) and was the only contemporary orthodox monastery of the Arad diocese that faced great difficulties.
The church underwent several restorations throughout the centuries. The original structures were altered to some extent. After the 17th century restoration, a baroque helmet was added to the dome.
The frescoes in the monastery date from the first decades of the 17th century. Several sacred objects dating from earlier centuries add new values to the artistic treasure of the monastery, including the skull of a bull that found an icon of the Virgin Mary (the current site of the church).
Since then the monastery has added a new church, an outdoor summer chapel, and other buildings.
Today, the monastery is within the boundaries of the Mureş Floodplain Natural Park, in the village of Bodrogu Nou (Arad County). The land and monastery are still owned by the Romanian Orthodox Church. However, in 2004 the Mureş Floodplain Natural Park was officially declared to protect and preserve the landscapes along the Mureş River. Because of the proximity of the monastery to the river, the monastery is now inside the natural park.