Noul Neamţ Monastery (Chiţcani)

Noul Neamţ is an all-male monastery located in Chiţcani, near Tighina, geographically in Basarabia but controlled by the breakaway Transnistrian authorities. It is also known as Mănastirea Chiţcani, and it is the biggest religious complex under the control of Transnistrian authorities.

The monastery of the Holy Ascension in New-Neamts is situated in Basarabia, on the right shore of Dniester, at a distance of 14 km from the town of Toghina (Bender) and 6 km from the town of Tiraspol. The monastic complex rises grandly to the sky, being seen from the distance by the people coming near the village of Chitcani.Gallery
There’re four churches on the territory of the monastery. In center of it, the wonderful Ascension cathedral is situated. On its left there is the old church built in the honor of the Saint Hierarch Nicholas the Wonder-Worker. Opposite there is a refectory church, of the Ascension of the Holy Cross. The Dormition church is a congruous part with its five chapels completing the general view of the monastery.

The name (which means “New Neamţ” in English) signifies that the monastery is a successor of the Neamţ Monastery in Romania (medieval Moldavia).

The monastery was founded in 1861, when several monks from the Neamţ monastery left and founded Noul-Neamţ in Chiţcani. The founding of the new monastery was a protest against the measures taken in United Principalities of Romania to confiscate monastery estates and forbid the usage of Slavonic language in worship.

On 16 May 1962 Soviet authorities closed the monastery; the buildings became a hospital.

The monastery church was reopened in 1989, followed in 1991 by the Romanian-language school for Orthodox priests.