The history of the convent can be traced
to 1602 when the small church in the cemetery, with
the patron saints Enoch, Elijah and John the Theologian,
was built. The building of the church is due to the
scholar Anastasie Crimca, metropolitan bishop at the
time, together with Chancellor Luca Stroici and his
brother, Treasurer Simion Stroici. The large church
with the dedication day on The Pentecost was built
between 1608 and 1609. The distinctive qualities that
set it apart from the other ecclesiastic structures
are its stately elevated silhouette as well as the
richness of the stone-carved decorations. Very long,
with the lateral apses embedded in the thick walls
of the nave, the large church has a spacious rectangular
porch to the west. The facades are surrounded by a
triple-torus molding, alternately intertwined. The
steeple is completely covered by stone-carved decorative
motifs of Caucasian origin. The supple high steeple
imparts a vertical movement to the whole building,
the height from the foundations to the top of the
cross being of 42 m. In the interior, the arches and
the stone ribs are just as richly adorned with a framework
of cable molding or with heraldic shields, while the
nave has invaluable mural paintings made by Craciun,
Maties, Ignat and Gligorie. The innovating element
of the painting consists in the new conception in
the choice and treatment of the themes, as well as
in the new manner of achieving it, in close connection
with the principles of iconographic art and miniature.
The interior of the church is divided into the porch,
the narthex, the nave and the altar. The porch is
on a higher level than the courtyard, and from the
porch to the altar, seven more steps emphasize the
tendency of elevation and the ever-higher value of
each of the church divisions. What draws the attention
upon entering the porch is the network of ribs covering
the vaults, a design originating in western Gothic
style, with alterations due to Anastasie Crimca's
artistic mind. There is hardly a part of the vault,
a single arch or a corner, which is not emphasized
by the motif of the intertwined ropes. Dragomirna
has not got a crypt, but there are five tombstones
in the porch and one in the narthex, where Anastasie
Crimca is likely to be buried. The entrance to the
church is on the southern side, under a richly adorned
archway with carved voussoir bricks - the motif of
the rosette. The steeple is right above the entrance.
Miron Barnovschi built the strong fortified enclosure
of the convent, with high walls and massive towers,
in 1627. Among the annexed buildings is a grandiose
Gothic hall, the location for the convent museum nowadays.
The museum contains priceless proofs of Romanian medieval
civilization: embroidery, golden silver book covers
made largely by Grigorie Moisiu, crosses sculpted
in ebony and cedar wood, the candle that was lit at
the dedication of the church. At Dragomirna, metropolitan
bishop Anastasie Crimca founded a school for miniature
artists and calligraphers, which became in the course
of time "the last bloom and sparkle of the Romanian
art of miniature". From the works created at Dragomirna
School five manuscripts can still be seen in the convent
museum: two Holy Gospels, two Ordinals, a Psalm Book,
all copied and illustrated by Anastasie Crimca and
his apprentices. They are a testimony of the Moldavian
miniature artists' talent and originality.
