Adam and Eve in Paradise
approach of the Sucevita Monastery in Bucovina
The Sucevita Monastery, the fourth and biggest of the big four in Bucovina, is slightly younger, and has somewhat more varied frescos, many beautifully executed
door to the monastery, even here with a fresco
Sucevita is the largest of the top four monasteries in Bucovina. The large compound is still walled, and several monastic buildings are present inside, protected by no less than four defense towers. The church and monastery was built in 1585, later than the other three Monasteries Humor, Voronet and Moldovita.
The church is relatively big, the tower relatively tall. The best fresco on the outside is the Stairway of Virtues, with swarms of angels guiding the faithful up – but not everybody makes it to the top. On the same wall is also a cartoon of Adam and Eve, very puritan with bigger-than-life fig leaves.
the monastic church, in its full glory
the Stairway of Virtue external fresco
the angels hovering above the stairway
What is interesting is that in the choice of subject-matter, and in the execution of the frescos, the painters seem to have had more liberty than in the earlier churches – which were only 50-60 years earlier, not that long before the painting of Sucevita. Yet, this has led to much more varied, as well as brighter, images.
porch of the church
frescoes on the outside of the sanctuary
detail
beautiful, colourful fresco
The other three monasteries included here are Humor, Voronet and Moldovita. See also ‘the painted monasteries of Bucovina‘.
The Ottoman Turks, judged by the turbans
and another well-known figure
another unusual subject-matter, under the porch
