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Tismana Monastery – also named “the Star of Orthodoxy” – is one of the oldest, the most important, and the most beautiful monasteries in Romania. The word “Tismana” is of Thraco-Dacian origin and means “Place fortified with walls”. The presence in the language of such toponimics derived from the root “tis” – or “dis” – is a strong proof on the Romanian people’s continuity of existence on the territory of Dacia.
The Roman enameled and ordinary bricks one can see in the pavement of the two churches and of the annex buildings as well as those found in the base of a much older church, prove the existence in this place of a Dacian-Roman fortress in earlier times.
After a temporary Hungarian occupation of Severin, St. Nicodim the Wallachian and a group of monks from Vodiţa Monastery came to Tismana. It was here, on the foundation of an old monastery destroyed by invaders, that he built – with the material support of Voievode Radu I (1377-1383) – the actual church, dedicated to the Dormition of Our Lady. Initially, the church had a monochrome painting (in ochre) of simple, geometric or floral drawings that still can be seen. The church was consecrated in 1387. Patriarch Filotei of Constantinople, who raised it to primate monastery over the other Romanian monasteries around, may have been present at the consecration.
After the town of Severin was partially destroyed, the Metropolitanate, established in 1370, moved its residence to Tismana. The monastery still preserves the oldest Romanian embroideries, such as the epitrachilion and the hypogonation that belonged to metropolytan Antim.
Since both the founder and the metropolitan were living at Tismana Monastery, a conflict arose between them and Nicodim had to leave the monastery he had founded. He went to Prislop, in Silvaşul de Sus, a Romanian center in
Haţeg Country. There, on the foundation of an old church, he built a new church, the only one monument in Transylvania with a “threecone” design. It was also there that St. Nicodim made copies of “Evangheliarul” – now at the National Museum in Bucharest. After the death of Metropolitan Athanasie of Severin (1404), St. Nicodim returned to Tismana in 1406. On December 26, the same year, he passed away and was buried in the porch of the monastery be had founded. Through the years the church underwent various repairs. Voievode Neagoe Basarab (1512-1521) roofed the church with lead plates. During the reign of Voievode Radu Paisie the fortress out in stone and the narthex doors were added in 1564. In 1564 Nedelcu, great vornic of Voievode Peter the Young (Petru cel Tânăr), brought Dobromir, a painter from Târgovişte, who provided the church a polychrome painting that has been preserved in the narthex only.
There is a document that specifies that the great church built by Nicodim was in existence in 1599. It was repaired between 1650-1651, during the rule of Voievode Matei Basarab, when the iconostasis (now at Crasna Skete, in Gorj district) was restored and St. Nicolas church of the hospital was rebuild.
In 1733 and 1766, the painting in the great church was restored with the support of Stanca, wife of the Chancellor Matei Glogoveanu.
In 1821, Tudor Vladimirescu organized at Tismana a center of resistance wherefrom the revolutionaries could get their supplies.
After some repair works done in 1855, the porch of the big church was demolished at the tomb of the Sf. Nicodin the Wallachian, the founder, was left outside. By demolition of the porch the church lost an element most specific to the Romanian architectural style. The monastery will preserve along the centuries the work of the Romanian monks that taught many trades in the monasteries on Mount Athos, especially at Cutlumush Monastery, which was built by Vlaicu Voievode of Walachia.
St. Nicodim’s cultural activity, in S-E of Europe and in Romanian Provinces, changes entirely the opinions regarding a so-called “foreign influence” upon Romanian culture. The Romanian culture is a product of the Romanian ethnical element developed in the monasteries on Mount Athos, were representatives of other nation had been trained too.
On Cioclovina Mountain, to the N-W of the Monastery there are two old sketes. Cioclovina de Jos –half way to the top and Cioclovina de Sus – built on the barren, rocky peak of the mountain. The beauty of the landscape surrounding the peak rewards the one who tires himself with climbing up this mountains where two thousand years ago there lived our ancestors: the Dacians.
