Painted Monasteries
From World travel guide
Among the most picturesque treasures of Romania are the painted churches located in Bucovina, many of which are protected by UNESCO as part of humankind's world heritage. These richly decorated houses of worship are "albums" of fresco art that have survived the elements since the 15th century.
The Voronet Monastery Church in Bucovina, founded in 1488 by Stephen the Great, is widely known throughout Europe as "the Sistine Chapel of the East," because of its interior and exterior wall pa intings, which offer an abundance of blue-chromatic frescoes featuring a color that has come to be known as Voronet blue. The frescoes of this church and many other painted churches in the Bucovina region illustrate biblical scenes, prayers, episodes of sacred hymns and themes such as The Last Judgment and The Ladder of St. John, all variously featuring the colorful and detail-rich imagery of apostles, evangelists, philosophers, martyrs, angels and demons. Beside their vivid frescoes the painted monasteries are famous for the original way of depicting beliefs or events: Sucevita with its unique “Ladder of Virtue”; Humor, featuring the devil amusingly depicted as a woman, and Moldovita, where a monumental scene of the Siege of Constantinopole is displayed.
The painted monasteries have a prevail color which characterize each of them: famous blue of Voronet, bright green for Arbore, red for Humor, brick red for Moldovita and green for Sucevita. Voronet Monastery built in 1488 by the Prince Stephen the Great. It is considered by many to be the "Sistine Chapel of the East", due to the magnificient frescoes representing "Last Judgement". Voronet is unique in the world for the blue nuance of the exterior paintings named "Voronet Blue", added by specialists alongside colours such as the "Titan Ted" of Rubens and "VeroneseGreen". Moldovita is dating from 1532. Exterior mural paintings compositions like: "Holy Virgin's Prayer" or "Jesse's Tree" have sunny yellow dominant note of colour which give a smart splendour. The fresco "The Siege of Constantinopole" represents a mirror of the historical events concerning the conquest of the capital of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 by the Ottoman army. Sucevita Monastery in Bucovina dating from 1585, the latest Moldovian painted monastery, is among UNESCO declared world monuments. Famous Painted Moldovian Monasteries are a permanent attraction for tourists. Neamt Monastery Library.
The Moldovian Monasteries are visited each year by many worldwide tourists. The beauty and the originality of these edifices are the reasons why they are registred in the list of UNESCO patrimony
