The monastery is surrounded by 4 meter high stone walls built during Petru Rareș's reign (1541–1546), the original ones being destroyed in 1538 by Suleiman the Magnificent's army.

A remarkable item preserved here is the miraculous icon[broken anchor] of Saint Anne given as a present to the monastery in 1407-1408 by Voivode Alexandru I's wife, Lady Ana.

According to tradition,[note 1] the icon was given as a "patronage gift" to Lady Ana by empress Jelena, wife of Manuel II Palaiologos, emperor of Constantinople.

Bistrita Monastery is the place where one of the oldest monuments of the Romanian medieval culture was created: Pomelnicul de la Bistrița.

They, monasteries, can also illustrate a military dimension, many of them being real fortresses and playing an active role in the defensive system of the country, given the restrictions imposed by Ottoman domination, especially after the middle of the XVIth century.