Old Orhei

About this place

Old Orhei, Orheiul Vechi in Romanian, is an archaeological and natural complex in a wide bend of the Răut River, at the village of Butuceni in central Moldova. The small river loops around a limestone ridge, the cliff is full of caves and a monastery cut into the rock, and a white church stands on top. It is the best-known view in the country. People have lived here for a very long time. A Geto-Dacian fortress stood here from the 6th to the 1st century BC, then a Golden Horde town known as Shehr al-Jedid in the 14th century, then a Moldavian fort from the 14th to the 16th century. Monks cut the cave monastery around the 14th century, and the caves hold Old Church Slavonic inscriptions from the 1690s. You walk along the ridge above the river, with the green valley, the village and its fields below. Visitors enter the cave monastery through a narrow passage, and a handful of monks still live there, so go in quietly and modestly dressed, and do not photograph the monks without asking. An exhibition centre by the bridge over the Răut shows finds from the digs. Old Orhei is 33 km in a straight line north of Chișinău and 14 km south-east of the town of Orhei. Walking the site is free, and small fees may apply at the museums. The slopes are slippery after rain, so wear good shoes. The reserve is working towards UNESCO listing.