Orhei

Orhei lies in the country of the Răut, between the Prut and Dniester. An older centre, now known as Old Orhei, occupied a defensible bend of the river. In the fourteenth century it contained a town of the Golden Horde with mosques and baths; the area later became part of Moldavia. The settlement's name and importance passed to a new site farther upstream.

The later town of Orhei is recorded in 1554 under Prince Alexandru Lăpușneanu. Vasile Lupu founded the Church of Saint Dumitru during his reign in the seventeenth century. The two sites recall successive chapters in the life of the Răut valley, from the trading town of the Horde to the Moldavian market and district centre. Orhei passed to Russia with Bessarabia under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812.