Tipova Monastery

Tipova (Rom. Ţipova) is a village in Rezina district, Moldova. Together with the villages of Lalova and Nistreni, it forms part of the commune of Lalova.

On the bank of the Dniester near the village is a rock monastery, founded in the 6th century. Here, in the 15th century, the hospodar Stephen III the Great (Ştefan cel Mare) married his wife Maria Voichita.

From 1776 began a period of flourishing and expansion for the monastery. The rock church was divided into large chambers separated from one another by massive columns.

At the beginning of the Soviet period the monastery was closed, but as early as 1974 the ruins of the rock monastery were taken under state protection, and in 1994 church services resumed here.

Today the monastery is open to visitors every day. In 2012 the monastery was restored.

There is a legend that the mythological poet Orpheus spent his last years in the rocks near Tipova.

Not far from the village is the gorge of the «Tipova» landscape reserve, where in the 4th–3rd centuries BC there was an earthen fortress of the Getae. Its towers on the promontory have survived to this day.