Translated from Keltic “Bakota” means a valley, in Spanish it is a dip. In Romanian language it`s a piece of bread, in Turkish – to see far.

The history of Bakota’s St. Michael’s Cave Monastery has started back in pre-Christian times. Age of caves reaches almost 4 thousand years. Almost all this time they served to worship natural elements. Until now, some pagan artifacts have been saved: a man’s foot etched in stone, stone idols and altars.

Today, the church is functioning without any restrictions. There is no priest in it, there is no denominational division. Orthodox, Greek-Catholic icons and the icon of God the Father stand next to each other:

— Today it is a monument of national importance, which performs a single function: not to divide people by the confessions, to allow everyone

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On holiday of the Protection of the Holy Virgin people came to the dilapidated village: someone had already moved from here, and someone did not dare yet, stall for time. Taras recalls that they danced, had fun, but there was tension inside, because each of them realized that this evening in the valley was the last one for them:

— Someone said:

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