It is a nunnery, founded by the ruler of Moldavia, Petru Șchiopul. The church of the Galata Monastery is surrounded by the city wall and dominates the surroundings, from the hill that looms towards the west of Iași. The monastery is an important monument of Romanian culture and a symbol of Orthodox spirituality, guarding the city of Iași. The monastery's address is str. Mănăstirii, no. 4, Iași.

The church, surrounded by walls with battlements and having a tall bell tower at the entrance, has the appearance of a fortress, often serving as a place of defense and sometimes as a princely residence. It is an example of the Wallachian influence on Moldavian architecture. From the vicinity of the church, on Galata Hill, a beautiful perspective of the city opens.

The Galata Church is a representative monument of Moldavian architecture from the end of the 16th century, built by Prince Petru Șchiopul during his second reign (1583-1591).

The church, dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord, is located in the middle of the enclosure. It is built of carved stone blocks and rows of three bricks, which give the monument a polychromy. The walls of the church are supported by nine stone buttresses, in steps, namely: two diagonally at the exonarthex, two in front of the wall between the porch and the narthex, two on the side apses and one under the middle window of the altar apse. The church is built in a triconch plan, being divided into a closed porch, narthex, crypt, nave and altar. The porch has a hemispherical vault and three windows ending in a broken arch.The Galata Monastery Church is the first church in Moldova built with two spires, until then the Moldavian churches had either a single spire or none. The original painting of the church was destroyed in a fire in 1762, along with the iconostasis and other church objects. Some fragments of the original painting were preserved covered by later plaster. A fragment of the votive painting can also be seen on the northern wall of the nave, in which the portraits of the founders appear: Prince Petru Șchiopul, his wife Maria and his daughter Maria.

The Galata Monastery Church served as a model for the Aroneanu Church, the Dragomirna Monastery and the Trei Ierarhi Monastery.

From an architectural point of view, the Galata Monastery is considered "a turning point and a decisive moment in the evolution of Moldavian architecture" (G. Balș): the triconch plan is preserved, the nave retains its three apses. Between the nave and the narthex there is also the "crypt", first encountered in a church in Iași. The porch is provided with side entrances. We also find in Galata the specific Moldavian procedure of reducing the diameter of the tower as well as its stellated base. For the first time in Moldavia, three windows appear in each apse, which makes the interior receive more light.

From a historical point of view, the monastery had special importance since Galata was, temporarily, also a princely court, the princes taking advantage of the fact that the monastery was fortified and could defend itself against any attacks.

In the summer of 1577, during his first reign, Petru Şchiopul sent a letter to the leaders of the city of Bistrița requesting that they send specialists in the field of construction, being dissatisfied with the Moldavian craftsmen. From this it can be concluded that the construction works of the monastery began in the fall of 1577. It is assumed that the consecration of the church took place before February 22, 1578, when the ruler, together with the metropolitan and bishops, constituted his main land patrimony, that is, they gave him estates. The chronicler Grigore Ureche dates the monastery also from 1578: “In these years (1578) Pătru vodă built the Galata monastery in the valley and not long after they dispersed, which place is still known today”.

Following the demolition of the first church shortly after its construction, Prince Petru the Lame founded a second church on a hill near the city, overlooking the Nicolina River valley. This event is reported as follows by the chronicler Grigore Ureche: "In this year (1583), when Pătru Vodă came to power, he did not want to leave his alms in vain, which he had first built, the Galata monastery in the valley, which then fell into disrepair, but with all his effort and diligence he built Galata on the hill, which still stands today".

As the inscription is missing, the period in which the church was built is unknown. Chronicles show that the construction of the new church (which was dedicated to the "Ascension of the Lord" and was known as "Galata din deal") began in 1583. Prince Petru Șchiopul built a princely house within the monastery, where he lived for a period. In the summer of 1591, he issued documents from here.

On the evening of January 17/29, 1591, in the Galata Church, Prince Petru Șchiopul secretly married Irina Botezat, who was the mother of his son Ștefan (born in 1584).