Bucovina's spiritual treasures

  Here, religious establishments well known all over the world are surrounded by rarely seen landscapes. These establishments have been introduced in the Universal Patrimony by UNESCO. The painted churches in Bucovina represent true picture albums in open air. The frescos covering the external walls have faced the fury of the nature, bringing to our days the mysteries of the great painters who decorated them.
Among them, Voronet is one of the most beautiful orthodox churches in Europe, also named the "Sixteenth Chapel of the East". It was built by Stefan cel Mare in 1488 and the wall painting - both in interior and exterior - was made during the reign of the religious Petru Rares, one of the nephews of Stefan cel Mare.

The chromatics of the frescos is dominated by blue, the extraordinary "Voronet blue", raising the admiration of the visitors. The west wall impresses by the dramatic character of the picture presenting the "Judgement Day".
Among the portraits in the pictures one can discover the peasants in the area, some of them dressed in popular outfits, and also images of the Turks, the enemies of the Romanian provinces.

In 1502 the boyar Luca Arbore, a courtman of Stefan cel Mare, choosing a place for a village to bear his name up to today, built a church - Arbore - for which his daughter, Ana, brought the talented master painter Dragos Coman in order to pant its walls. The establishment has an impressive roof lacking any towers, and the prevailing colour of the frescos is green.
Another well known master painter of those times was Toma from Suceava, who painted the frescos of another church, in Humor, a church founded in 1530 by a boyar family, Anastasia and Toader Bubuiog, with the help of the ruler Petru Rares.
The tourist will be impressed by the images of the Virgin Mary with the Infant in arms, painted on the frontispiece of the gate. Another remarkable painting is the "Judgement Day" on the walls of the church porch.
Petru Rares is the founder of the monastery Moldovita, built in 1532, where "Marul de Aur"(the golden apple) is guarded, a prise received in 1977 by the painted monasteries in Bucovina from the International Federation of the Touristic Journalists. The prevailing colour of the frescos is brick red. The south façade is painted with the "Siege of Constantinopolis", belonging to the 24 episodes of the hymn to Virgin Mary and "Ieseu's Arbor", two of the favourite themes of those times.

Reminding of the medieval fortresses with towers at the corners of the defence walls, 6 m high and 3 m thick, the monastery Sucevita was founded between the years 1581 and 1601 by two brothers of the boyar family Movila. The specialists considers that "The ladder of Ion of Sinai" (the northern facade) is quite rare for the medieval art in Romania and one of the best frescos in Sucevita. The traveller an also see here one of the most impressive museums of religious art in Romania.
An amazing vision both for the tourists and for the specialists combines apostles, evangelists, philosophers, martyrs, angels and demons, while Almighty God dominates them all.

Radauti is a lovely town not far away from these churches. Here, the master potter Constantin Colibaba laid the foundations of a beautiful ceramics school. You can also find here the oldest stone-made church in Moldavia: Bogdana, dating from the second half of the 14 century and reminding the name of the ruler Bogdan I, the pounder of the Moldavian feudal state. The church shelters the graves of the first Moldavian rulers.
The traveller must visit Suceava, 65 km away from Radauti. Nowadays it is the capital of the district with the same name, but in the old times it used to be the fortified capital of Moldavia, whose ruins can be visited today. Among other interesting things in Suceava, the church Sf. Gheorghe, dating from the beginning of the XVI century and which is included into the monachal establishment Sf. Ion Nou.

The elegant church Dragomirna, built in 1609 in the north, raises a gorgeous tower that resembles a stone embroidery. The traveller who passes through Moldavia will be amazed to discover other important religious establishments, both in the cities (Vaslui, Piatra Neamt, Bacau, Hârlau, Galati, Botosani si Husi), and in the villages (Cotnari, Razboieni Probota, Vorona, Râsca). Aside from the orthodox churches of this district, there are also Catholic, Greek Catholic, Armenian churches or even religious establishments belonging to other religions.