Cozia is the oldest monastery in Wallachia. It was founded in the Olt River Valley by Prince Mircea the Old between 1387 and 1388. He is also buried in a crypt here. The votive painting made a few years after the monastery was erected shows Mircea the Elder in the garb in which he was dressed when he participated in the Nicopolis crusade of 1396.
A masterpiece of Wallachian architecture, the Church of the Holy Trinity was erected by Moravian builders. It has a triconch plane and a minutely decorated faτade. At the beginning of the 17th century, the remains of nun Teofana, mother of Prince Michael the Brave, were put in the crypt of the church. The church was restored in 1797 by Constantin BrΓncoveanu, who added a large porch with cable moulding pillars and large arcades. Between 1850 and 1856, on the initiative of Princes Bibescu and ¬tirbei, the church was once again restored. The monastic complex of Cozia also includes two chapels built between 1600 and 1800. Their original murals have been preserved. The older of the two is the infirmary church painted by Master Maxim.
In 1517, Prince Neagoe Basarab built a fountain that bears his name. The monastery museum houses a collection of old icons and manuscripts from the 17th century written in Romanian and circulated by Moldavian and Wallachian chronicles.
