Although the Monastery of Raşca is a princely foundation, and it is related to the memory of the most famous Moldavian scholar and chronicler of the 16th century, the Bishop of Roman Macarie, it has not enjoyed the fame of similar establishments. One reason might be that the monastery was built in a relatively isolated place, which became even more isolated once the nearby town of Baia lost its status as a prosperous governmental and trading centre. Raşca is the only monastery Petru Rareş built during his second reign (1541-1546), in 1542, immediately after his return to the throne of Moldavia. The church dedicated to St. Nicholas is much smaller than its "sisters" also founded by the Prince. It was left unpainted at the time of the Prince's death and was decorated with frescoes only in 1552-1554. Originally the church included a chancel, naos, pronaos and probably an exonarthex.

There are three apses at the east end, as in most of the 16th century monastery churches. A tower supported by Moldavian arches rises above the naos.A tower supported by Moldavian arches rises above the naos. Between 1611 and 1617, the old exonarthex was replaced with another one. This one room is nearly as big as the rest of the church, and a second lantern tower rises above it. The entrance to the church is through a small open porch in the middle of the south façade, built at the same time as the exonarthex. Turks plundered the monastery in 1821, and as earthquakes had seriously damaged the church some time before, it was radically repaired immediately afterwards. The wall between the naos and the pronaos was demolished according to the new fashion of the period. The towers were re-roofed with the bulb-shaped roofs of Baroque inspiration that were preserved during the restoration works of the 1960s. But, another element that had been added during the 19th century repairs was removed: a third tower, placed between the other two towers. This additional tower was not a proper lantern tower with windows, sitting atop a vault, but a "blind" tower, with no structural function. The image can be seen in the repainted votive painting of the exonarthex. The two parts of the church are clearly distinct in shape and decoration, but the two towers unify the whole. The towers are unusually narrow and recall the tower of Dragomirna, built at the beginning of the 17th century. This fact, combined with the image of a church without any towers found on the south façade, has led some researches to the conclusion that the towers are contemporary, both built from 1611 to 1617.