Găvanu Monastery is an Orthodox monastery located in Mânzălești commune, Buzău county, under the Archdiocese of Buzău and Vrancea, part of the Metropolitanate of Muntenia and Dobrogea.
Access from Buzău is on the DJ203K towards Mânzălești, then on the DJ204M towards the village of Jghiab, and further along an unpaved forest road, difficult in places, between the village of Lacurile and the monastery.
Until 1988, access was difficult, but since 1989, a 3 km forest road allows car access, traveling through the Jghiab valley among sandstone outcrops.
The current church, dedicated to the "Assumption of the Virgin Mary", is built of fir beams lined with planks on a stone foundation, with a flat plan and various towers. The catapeteasma is richly carved and gilded, similar to the one at Poiana Mărului Monastery. The belfry has three bronze bells, and the church is painted in oil, holding icons signed by D. Teodorescu.
The monastery courtyard includes a chapel, bell tower, cells, household premises and a small pond.
The monastery, a Moșnean-peasant foundation, has a history starting from 1707, on land donated by Moise Ignat Beșliu. Due to frequent flooding, the hermitage was moved to a lower clearing. The church was destroyed by the Turks in 1821, but rebuilt in 1828, being painted by Nicolae Zograf and Ioan Andronicescu.
After the secularization of the monastic assets under Cuza Vodă, the monastery went through difficulties, but was reborn in the interwar period. Transformed into a nunnery in 1951, it was closed in 1958 by the communist regime and reopened in 1990 as a nunnery, returning to nuns in 2007.
The monastery also had school activity, having Hieromonk Vissarion as copyist in 1793. During the Revolution of 1821 and the occupation of Muntenia between 1916-1918, the monastery served as a refuge and a place of passage to free Moldova. The place was described by Alexandru Vlahuță and Alexandru Odobescu.
Sursa: ro.wikipedia.org
