St Dumitru Church

The white stone church of St Dumitru is the oldest surviving building in Orhei and one of the oldest in Moldova, founded in 1632 by Prince Vasile Lupu of Moldavia. The architecture is classic medieval Moldavian — a single low nave, a tower over the entrance, and a row of small round-arched windows.

The church stood through 350 years of changing empires (Ottoman, Russian, Romanian, Soviet, independent Moldova) and is still in active Orthodox use. Stop by even if you are passing through quickly; it takes ten minutes and is the most tangible piece of history in town.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The church was founded in 1632 by Vasile Lupu, the prince of Moldavia famous for the legal code he commissioned that became one of the foundations of Romanian law. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the modern Republic of Moldova and one of very few stone monuments from the Moldavian principality still on its original site.