The nuns of Agapia live in little houses forming a lovely hamlet around the 17C monastery, which is surrounded by two-storey colonnaded buildings. The central courtyard is virtually entirely taken up by an austere church. Its interior is decorated with frescoes painted by Nicolae Grigorescu at the age of 20, amazing for their western style – composition, gilded bordering and well-defined spatial form – and for the realism of their figures, inspired by those who lived here at the time.