Contributions to the reconstitution of the list of books from the Hancu Monastery library

Abstract

Hâncu Monastery, an old monastic center in the central part of Bessarabia, had an archive and library very rich in documents, manuscripts and printed books, which disappeared after its liquidation in 1950. Some of the printed books were taken by the monks, and when it was reactivated in 1990, they were returned to the monastery. Most of the library’s books were taken to the Hâncu monastery, some of which are still preserved today. Based on the sources, we restored the list of books before the liquidation (118 books), and based on the specialized literature, field research and current literature (75 books). In the library of the Hâncu monastery, there were books printed in Romanian in: Buzau, Iași, Râmnic, Bucharest, Sibiu, Brașov, Vienna, Buda, the Neamț monastery, Chișinău and Saint Petersburg. Fewer have been identified in library and museum holdings. The oldest books in the library of this monastic center were printed in Buzău and date from the end of the 17th century, followed by those from Iași and Bucharest, from the first half of the 18th century. More numerous are the books printed at the Neamț monastery and in Chisinau from the 19th century. The monks from Hâncu were also interested in religious books in Romanian, printed in Brașov, Vienna, Buda, Saint-Petersburg, which circulated in eastern Moldova at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Currently, the library of the Hâncu monastery is being restored, and following research we have identified over 70 Romanian books, preserved in good conditions.