October 26 is the day that marks the 217th anniversary of the 1802 earthquake, considered to be the largest earthquake in our country and one of the strongest in Europe. It occured at 12:55 on October 26 (October 14, old style), on the Saint Parascheva day and lasted 2 minutes and a half. Hundreds were injured and only 4 people were killed. The earthquake appears in the ROMPLUS Catalog (www.infp.ro) with magnitude Mw = 7.9, maximum intensity IX and depth 150 km.

The event was called the "great earthquake", being felt from Ithaka Island to St. Petersburg and Moscow. The affected macroseismic area was more than 2 million km².

There have been numerous fires in Bucharest and other areas of the country, they formed cracks in the ground. The movement of the earth resembled that of the waves of the sea. In many parts the ground was broken "black water like tar". The Coltea tower, built between 1709-1714 as a component of the Coltea Monastery and being the tallest building at that time (54m high), was badly damaged.

It is assumed that the main reasons why they have registered few losses of human lives, it constitutes both the type of houses built at that time, great distance between the houses, so that the vibrations of the buildings did not propagate, as well as the moment of the earthquake, late at night ("This earthquake happened at 12:55, and if it would have been in the time of the gathering of the people at prayer, as it was a feast day, would have done the terrible death .... ", doc. B Roman Orthodox churches).

The earthquake caused major damage in Bucharest, Muntenia, Moldova and Transylvania, so that many monasteries were damaged, destroyed or damaged: Putna Monastery, the Royal Church in Barlad and Vaslui, the Monastery Saint George Nou from Bucharest, Antim Monastery, Stavropoles Monastery, Comana Monastery, Curtea de Arges Monastery, etc.

Source: "Uncertainties in the assessment of Vrancea seismic risk and hazard", Gheorghe Marmureanu, Ed. Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1802_Vrancea_earthquake