MONASTERY OF SUCEVIȚA
The Sucevița monastery was founded by the Movilă family in 1581 (church) and completed in 1601 (enclosure). Flanked by towers with pointed roofs, the 6-meter-high, 3-meter-thick surrounding walls form an almost perfect quadrilateral (100 x 104 meters). The central church is entirely covered with exterior frescoes (the best preserved in Bucovina), dominated by green and red. Executed by the brothers Ion and Sofronie in 1596, they feature an impressive number of biblical characters. Saints, prophets, chroniclers and martyrs number in the hundreds, and their expressions are so elaborate and varied that they deserve to be viewed face by face, the succession of scenes giving the impression of reading a book. The fresco known as the Ladder of St. John Climacus (or Ladder of Virtues and Vices) is considered one of the most beautiful. It represents the 32 stages one must pass through after death. Only those who have never sinned reach the top of the ladder, paradise.
The Museum of Religious Art, housed in a small house, boasts one of the country's richest collections of medieval art. It contains superb 15th-16th century wood and stone carvings, paintings and manuscripts donated to the monastery by the founders and their descendants. In particular, you'll see superb embroidery in gold, silver, silk and pearls, including precious embroidered portraits of the brothers Ieremia and Simion Movilă, who ruled Moldavia.
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