If you want to escape the daily routine and old habits, if you want to come face to face with traditions and lifestyles which are long-gone elsewhere around the world, BUCOVINA is the place to come.
Whenever you feel like experiencing something new, you may take a journey into the past. If you want to know the way people used to live, find out more about their beliefs and see what they really cherished, come to BUCOVINA.
Bucovina is one of the most attractive and visited touristic areas in Romania. No wonder this area(famous today all over the world) was given in 1975 the Pomme d’Or international prize by The International Federation of Travel Writers and Tourism Journalists. The century-old architecture monuments together with the frescos from this country spot were listed by UNESCO among all the universal art monuments.
The frescos of the painted monasteries in the north are among the most picturesque treasures of Romania. Set amidst the scenery of the surrounding mountains in villages known for their traditional way of life. Each fresco tells a different biblical story on its painted walls of on the outside and inside of the monasteries, as well on the ceiling of the interior. The illustrated scenes resemble prayers, episodes of sacred hymns and themes such as The Last Judgment and The Ladder of St. John, all in colorful and rich imagery of apostles, evangelists, philosophers, martyrs, angels and demons.
When visiting Romania a detour to the north is much worth the experience. Below are some of the most important monasteries:
HUMOR Monastery
Founded by chancellor Theodor Bubuiog in 1530, the church is small, with a wide open porch, arched on three sides. The same as the vault at Moldovita, the Humor one seems to be floating, which makes it greatly admired by specialists. The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin is without the tower typical to the churches of the region, as it
was built by a nobleman, and not by a ruling prince. Its open exonarthex is the first of its kind in Bucovina.
VORONET Monastery
Voronet - “The Sistine Chapel of the East” was built in three months and three weeks, in 1488 by Stephen the Great and painted on the outside in the time of ruling prince Petru Rares. Hundreds of paintings ranging from the frail child — the symbol of the soul in the scene of the Last Judgment, to the immense composition "Jesse's Tree" everything
develops amid an explosion of blue. It is the "Voroneţ blue", an artistic definition included today in the publications of international art, next to Veronese green and Titian red, etc. Voronet represents a new facet of Byzantine art.
MOLDOVITA Monastery
The church of Moldavita monastery was built in 1532 and painted in 1537 by prince Petru Rares. The outside walls are clad in frescoes.
From the eaves down to the base in registers, there are hundreds of scenes and personages. One of the most valuable scenes at Moldovita is the siege of Constantinople,
a monumental composition. It seems the siege of Constantinople, has been painted only in Moldavia. This historical event was so deeply stamped on the memory of the people that even lifter one hundred years it was still alive in people's minds.
There can also be seen the "Pomme d'Or" prize awarded to Bucovina by International Federation of Writers and Journalists on Tourism (FIJET, 1975).
SUCEVITA Monastery
Surrounded by gentle mountain scenery, Sucevita appears like a strong stone citadel, with massive towers, buttresses and watch roads. The walls of Sucevita dating since the 16th century enclose within them legends and tales such as the one of the woman who it seems for 30 years carried in her ox wagon, the stone the monastery was built of. In memory of
the woman who toiled for three decades, the head of a woman is carved in black stone, half concealed under the arch of a buttress.
Sucevita is the monument with the greatest number of images. It is populated inside and outside with thousands of portraits and images such as: "Ladder of Virtues", wonderfully well preserved, with scenes symbolizing the people's belief in the first judgment of souls after death, “Moses’ Life Story”, "Jesse's Tree" next there is the frieze of the scholars and philosophers of the antiquity (Pythagoras, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Solon) gorgeously clad in Byzantine cloaks. The "Pocrov" (The Veil) — another brilliant image representing the Virgin Mary as a Byzantine empress under a large red veil held by angel.
The painting in Sucevita is of perfect monumentality, in keeping with the architecture of the church; the painted stories and the background in which they develop present a rare chromatic harmony, of oriental brilliance as in images from the "Arabian Nights”.
