Bucovina

Located on the North-Eastern side of Romania, Bucovina is a place where you can dive into the spiritual side of Romania. Many of the churches and monasteries built here are dedicated by the rulers of the land to their victories in battle.

The most famous landmarks are definitely the Painted Monasteries, but one can fully enjoy this land by fully experiencing the local life, discovering crafts and traditions that date back to times forgotten by many.

The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

Voronet Monastery was built in 1488, establishing a true record for that period in terms of construction (it was built in three months, three weeks and three days)

An old Romanian chronicle records that Stephen the Great, the most famous prince of Moldavia, founded Voronet Monastery, to fulfil a pledge to Daniil, a hermit who had encouraged him to chase the Turks from Wallachia.

The frescoes on the external walls of the Voronet Orthodox churches preserve the painted portraits of Greek philosophers such as Platon and Aristotle. The image of these wise men of antiquity was associated with the image of the root, of Joshua’s Tree (the genealogy of Jesus), and their prophecies are represented in the external frescoes of the monastery.

Sucevita is chronologically the last and greatest of the 22 painted churches of Bucovina and has the largest number of painted images. This monastery has the appearance of a real fortress, with towers, buttresses and watch roads.

The western exterior wall of Sucevita is not painted. Legend has it that the construction stopped after a tragedy occurred: one of the painters fell from the scaffolding and died.

The Monasteries with exterior paintings found in the north of Moldavia, received in 1975 the UNESCO "Golden Apple" award, now on the display at the Moldovita Monastery Museum.