Situated at 19 km from Radauti, in a
particularly picturesque landscape lies the Monastery
of Sucevita, the most fortified complex of this kind
in Moldavia. Built at the end of the 16th century,
between 1581 and 1601, the precincts of the monastery
with the side walls of approximately 100 meters in
length, three meters thick and 6 meters tall, flanked
by 5 strong towers, was built as a necropolis for
the Movilesti family and as a hiding place for their
fabulous wealth. The church is considered to end the
major cycle of the Moldavian architecture in the 15th
and 16th centuries, at the same time, being the last
one among the churches having outside painting. The
Moldavian trefoil plan, with a porch, narthex, crypt,
nave and altar, is influenced though by Wallachian
architecture: the two open porches placed to the left
and to the right of the main porch on the northern
and southern sides, as well as the windows on the
sides of the octagonal tower. The lateral apses have
five elongated niches each and the altar apse has
eleven such niches, which, together with the seven
buttresses are beautifully alternated on the straight
facades. The outer painting was made by brothers Ion
and Sofronie and it has a narrative character. This
sets it apart from the churches painted before, like
the ones in Humor, Moldovita and Voronet, which transmitted
through their outside painting a powerful anti-Ottoman
political message. Striking for the paintings of Sucevita
are the following characteristics: a special refinement,
the grandiose pictorial ensembles, the unaffectedness
and naturalness of the characters painted there, as
well as the tendency of humanizing the religious themes,
which are placed in the natural environment resembling
that of Moldavia's scenery. As far as the colors are
concerned, the green and the red prevail in the paintings
at Sucevita. At Sucevita, the ensemble contains over
100 figures. The most interesting part of the composition
is The Scale of Virtues, and the frescoes with the
ancient philosophers. The depiction of philosophers
in mural paintings is a further argument in favor
of the fact that obvious Renaissance elements were
at work in the Moldavian society of the 16th century.
The Siege of Constantinople by the Persians in the
year 626 is depicted in 24 scenes. The small porches,
especially the southern one, are painted with interesting
scenes from nature, many against a white background,
which reminds of the traditions of Hellenistic painting,
transmitted through Byzantine art. On the inside,
the church, apart from the tower on the nave is covered
by vaults, calottes and semi-calottes, which allow
for the paintings to have a continuous display. The
inner painted scenes remind of the miniatures of books
and icons. Remarkable are the following scenes: The
Genesis, The Life of St. John the New of Suceava,
and The Life of Moses. In the nave, the most interesting
scene is the votive picture, depicting the family
of Ieremia Movila, who was prince of Moldavia between
1595 and 1606. In the courtyard of the monastery there
is a rich museum with a valuable collection of old
ecclesiastic art. Of note are especially the funeral
veils of the two princes buried in Sucevita. Near
the monastery is another historical monument, a stone
church and a belfry tower, which kept the traditional
features of Moldavian architecture, although they
were built in 1772.
