Whatever was left untouched by the lapse of time ever since the 15th century is the bell tower of the treasury, on the western side of the complex. Access to the first floor of the bell tower was made by means of a mobile staircase that was withdrawn in case of sieges. The monastic museum at Putna Monastery is one of the richest in the country, with precious objects dating back to Stephen the Great's time. Among them, mention should be made of golden thread embroideries, tapestries, vellum manuscripts, metal-bound manuscripts, silver psalters, ecclesiastical objects and sacerdotal attire, paintings, sculptures, the tryptich icon worn by Stephen in times of war, Maria of Mangop's* self-portrait etc.
Moldavia's greatest ruling prince, Stephen the Great, was canonized by the Orthodox Church in 1992, and since then, he has been celebrated as a saint every year on the 2nd of July. Uphill and slightly to the east of the monastery, there is a curious hollowed-out rock with a door and a window, reputedly once the cell of Daniil the Hermit, who acted as Stephen the Great's close advisor, and whose name is related to the foundation of Sucevita Monastery .That was about Putna monastery. Sucevita is chronologically the last and greatest monastic ensemble among the painted monasteries in Bukovina, as it has the appearance of a real fortress, with towers, buttresses and watch roads. It was erected in 1581 by Gheorghe Movila, Bishop of Radauti, and consecrated to the Assumption in 1584. Ruling prince Ieremia Movila, Gheorghe Movila's brother, added to the church two open porches (to the north and to the south); he also built massive houses, thick surrounding walls and defence towers. The legend has it that an old woman had been working there for thirty years, carrying in her ox wagon stone for the construction of the monastery. This is the reason why a female head is carved on a black stone in the monastery's yard. The fortress structure of the site had a defensive role; it actually prevented the mural paintings (made in 1595-1596) from serious damaging as it happened with frescoes of other painted monasteries.
Paintings at Sucevita were best preserved both on the outside and on the inside. Frescoes are painted in purple red and blue against an emerald green background. There is plenty of gold too, taken from the art of miniature. They belong to Romanian masters of the Moldavian school of painting - Ioan the Painter and his brother Sofronie from Suceava -. They have a strongly narrative character and many of them represent scenes taken from the daily life of the 16th century Moldavia.