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Cocoș Monastery

heritage site in Tulcea County, Romania

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ5139911 ↗
Source-derived summary

Cocoş Monastery is a monastery in Romania, located in a forest clearing 6 km (3.7 mi) south of the town Niculițel.

The place name is due to the cocoș de mesteacăn, the Romanian name for birch cock or black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix), a wild bird frequently sighted in the woods.

The first religious building on the site was a hermitage, first referred in 1679. The monastery was founded in 1833 by three Moldovan monks from Neamț, on the way to Mount Athos.

The monastery includes an abbot's house, a number of monks' dwellings, a bell tower, a chapel and a church dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos, all of which are on the list of historical monuments in Romania, being built between 1883 and 1913.

In 1971, nearby, heavy rains exposed the dome of a old hidden crypt with the remains of four 3C martyrs (Zotikos, Attalos, Kamasis and Phillipos); their relics were later placed in caskets and brought to the monastery, and started attracting many pilgrims.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Cocoș Monastery” is heritage site in Tulcea County, Romania. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cocoș, Monastery and heritage, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1679, 1833, 1883, 1913—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. For this dossier, Cocoș, Monastery and heritage is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “heritage site in Tulcea County, Romania” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5139911. Authority coordinates are 45.212, 28.416. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1679, 1833, 1883 and 1913.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Cocoș Monastery”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Cocoș Monastery primary sources, Cocoș Monastery archive and Cocoș research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cocoș Monastery”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Cocoș Monastery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.