Welcome to Sucevita Monastery
Location:
In Sucevita village, 18 km south-west of Rădăuţi City.
How to get here:
By car:
You can get at Sucevita Monastery from Rădăuţi on the National road DN 17A through Marginea commune, known for the high quality ceramic and also towards west from here is the same distance that you’ve done from Rădăuţi till Marginea. From the European road E58 regardless you’re coming from Gura Humorului or Suceava, in Păltinoasa you enter on the north on the National road DN 2E and then in Marginea towards west on DN 17A. On the same National road DN 17A you can come from Câmpulung Moldovenesc City and passing also by Moldoviţa Monastery.
Transport:
The easiest and fastest way to come here is of course by car. However, you can come by bus from Rădăuţi with one of the daily routes, but also by bicycle.
Foundation Year:
End of XVI century (1582-1584)
Church or Monastery saint title:
The Resurrection of the Lord
The painted monasteries from Bucovina
Sucevita Monastery
History and construction of Sucevita Monastery:
Sucevita Monastery was built by Movila family exactly on the place of an old church. Its consecration was held in 1591 and only 4 years later Ieremia Movila becomes Moldova’s ruler till 1606. He is the one to raise the importance of the church, who built the external defensive walls and towers so that many tourists can say that it looks like a medieval citadel and not a monastery. (Find more journeys on blog.worldlifetimejourneys.com) Church’s construction is a mix of byzantine and Gothic art in a Moldavian style and the internal and external pictures will be continued in the following decades. It’s important to know, that also this Monastery is included since 2010 on the UNESCO World Heritage for the unique and beauty of the paintings, but mostly for the external one which is the best preserved among all the monasteries from Bucovina.
Sucevita Monastery, the first impression after you get in
Paintings (pictures) and museum at Sucevita Monastery:
With a superb color, the most important among the pictures at Sucevita Monastery is The Virtues Scale made by Saint Ioan Scărarul and illustrates the contrast between angels order and hell’s chaos where visitors can admire the eternal fight between good and evil, but also each person’s effort to touch the perfection and gain again the lost image due to sins. Also, on the church walls is the picture All Saints Prayer, but also Iesei’s Tree, Our Lady Achatyst, The Burning Bush or Our Lady’s Covering.
The Virtues Scale painting at Sucevita Monastery
Inside there is a picture of Jesus Christ Pantocrator, but also scenes from his life. Of course that can’t be missed a picture with Movila family, but also with church’s founder Gheorghe Movila. The internal and external picture of Sucevita Monastery, was considered by the French researcher Paul Henry as the Testament of Moldavian Art. He considers that together with the pictures from Voronet, Arbore, Humor and Moldovita they form a huge universal art masterpiece very appreciated worldwide. (Find more journeys on blog.worldlifetimejourneys.com) A very pricey object is the Miracle Icon of Our Lady. Of course that Sucevita has a museum housing precious religious and artistic objects like embroideries, icons, epitaphs, grave covers, a shrine donated by Gheorghe Movilă and others.
Beautiful roses in front of Sucevita Monastery
“Sucevita Monastery, for more than four centuries, sentinel at the feet of Obcinele Bucovinei Mountains, as a testimony of our ancestral faith and of our nation’s history, it will linger on forever, keeping alive the Romanian orthodox spirituality”. Visit Sucevita Monastery!
The back side of Suceviţa Monastery
