JAPCA MONASTERY

Japca or Sabca Monastery is located on the bank of the Dniestr River 45 km from Soroca. It was built on a rocky terrain, surrounded by plains rich in gardens, orchards and vineyards. The site is particularly beautiful; from the monastery, one can enjoy a breathtaking view of the region and the town of Camenca on the Transnistrian side.
According to some sources, there was a cave hermitage founded by the monk Ezekiel from Lviv in 1491, but the foundation of the monastery is generally dated to 1693. A first wooden church was built at the foot of the cliff in 1770 and since then the monastery has had three churches: the Church of the Ascension of the Lord built in 1829 and renovated in 1912, the Church of the Archangel Michael built in 1849 and a rock church certainly dating from the 17th century and restored in 1852. In 1959 and again in 1964, the Soviet authorities tried to close the monastery in Japca but the nuns resisted. The monastery is one of the very few that remained open during the Soviet era, but the sisters were forced to work in a state agricultural cooperative that was then called sovkhoze.

The monastery and the churches are of Moldavian architectural style, with classical and other Byzantine elements. There is a copy of the miraculous icon of the Mother of God from Hîrbovăț dating from 1853. The rock church is the only one that hasn't been renovated. Today the convent has 3 ha of land, about fifty nuns live there and lead an austere and monastic life, without electricity.