Nativity of St. John the Baptist Church, Focșani

The Nativity of St. John the Baptist Church (Romanian: Biserica Nașterea Sfântului Ioan Botezătorul) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 5 Piața Unirii in Focșani, Romania. It is dedicated to the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. The church was founded by Grigore I Ghica, Prince of Wallachia, in 1661; the Ghica family would continue to provide support. Originally a monastery church, it is cross-shaped, made of brick and limestone on a stone foundation, in Byzantine style. On the interior, it is 22.40 meters long, 6.50 meters wide and 9.50 meters high. The floor is of stone blocks. The attached porch, of uncertain date, is around 4 meters long. The monastery was a cultural and religious center, offering theological training and preparing a large number of monks, priests and deacons. In 1849, it possessed 22 books in Greek and 24 in Romanian Cyrillic. Until the 1863 secularization of monastic estates in Romania, it was a metochion of Agia Anastasia Monastery in Thessaloniki. The monastery had the appearance of a fortress, surrounded by granite walls over 6 meters thick. On the inside, it had buildings with two stories that included 36 living apartments and 10 basements. It also had towers with embrasures, useful for positioning firearms. One of the wealthiest churches in the area, it owned several villages, estates, vineyards in Odobești, forests, stores and houses in Focș

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