Putna Monastery

Putna and its surroundings were a reclusory long before Stephen the Great had fired his arrow and chose to build on the very spot it fell what was to become his greatest built achievement, namely Putna Monastery. Old chronicles place the building of the monastery between 1466 and 1469, whereas its consecration took place in 1470. Its erection is relating to the medieval tradition according to which ruling princes would build monasteries, churches, fortresses after they had ascended to the throne. Likewise, Putna, due to its fortified tall walls and towers, belonged to the defence system designed by Stephen the Great, who had built a series of fortresses like Chilia or Cetatea Alba for instance, as he was so often confronted with invading armies, whether Turks, Tartars, Poles, Kossaks or Hungarians. The church is plain and strong, with cable mouldings at its façades, blind arcades and trefoiled windows. On the inside, the church is divided into porch, narthex, necropolis, nave and apse. The princely necropolis is unusually large, i.e. 37 m long, 11 m wide and 33 m high (including the belfry). In a recess of the necropolis, supported by two columns and covered by a marble canopy, there is Stephen the Great's tombstone. The necropolis holds also the tombs of the prince's second wife, Maria of Mangop, and that of his third wife, Maria Voichita. Tombs of some of Stephen's descendants, as well as of Moldavian bishops and metropolitans who contributed to the welfare and preservation of the monastery, are also to be found there. The stone carvings of the tombstones, as well as those decorating the frames of doors and windows, evince a Gothic influence come to Moldavia through Transylvania. In its time, Putna Monastery was a flourishing cultural centre. Its monks would copy manuscripts, old chronicles, and adorn religious texts with miniatures. In the first half of the 16th century, historic chronicles of the Romanian literature were drawn up, and copied at Putna Monastery. Chroniclers and clergymen in Moldavia were trained there between the 15th-16th centuries. Damaged by wars, fires and earthquakes, the church was restored several times, namely in 1654, in 1757, and more completely in 1966-1988. It seems that the church was initially painted both on the inside and on the outside, but unfortunately, none of the frescoes were left to the day.

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.

The most outstanding paintings are the Ladder of Virtue, presenting the angels who assist the righteous enter the Paradise, while sinners are punished by a grinning demon, and the Last Judgement, left unfinished because its painter fell down from the scaffoldings and died. The latter one has scenes with the Romanians' traditional enemies, the Turks, getting ready for the Last Judgement, joined by Jews, who were also considered to be pagans. Outside the porch, is to be seen the terrible vision of the Apocalypse, displaying two-headed Beasts and the traditional rivers of fire. On the south wall, there is a remarkable Tree of Jesse, displaying both the human origin of Jesus, under the form of His family tree, and His divine ascendence, as the Prayers to Holy Virgin scene is also painted nearby. Theologically, the Tree of Jesse is a symbol of the continuity between the Old and the New Testaments, as well as of the Logos before and after the arising of Jesus. The Tree in Sucevita is an evolved version, as compared to the same scene at Voronet. The Crowning of the Virgin, a theme which is not common for Byzantine art, is a sample of the Polish influence over Moldavia (due also to the Movila family's close relations to Poland); it can be also related to a syncretic vision bringing together western and Byzantine forms of art. Other important paintings at Sucevita are the Siege of Constantinople (1453), and a scene presenting the first two verses of the Genese. The Siege of Constantinople proves the great impact this historical event had upon Eastern civilization and culture; it gives one a notion of how the siege was perceived and artistically rendered more than a hundred years later. The two verses offset the divine presence in the first moments of Existence, when God had begun to create the world. In the nave, on the right side wall, one can see a faded votive painting of Elisabeta, Ieremia's wife, together with her children. Become a widow, she never saw them on the throne, as she died in a Sultan's harem, far away from her country. Ieremia and his brother Gheorghe are buried nearby. The museum of the monastery holds precious objects, among which manuscripts and embroideries donated by the Movila family. Important restoration works were carried on between 1960 and 1970.
The first monastery erected on the site was the one built by Alexander the Kind-Hearted (1400-1432), between 1402 and 1410, but it collapsed at the beginning of the 16th century because of the very heavy rains and ground sliding; its ruins can still be seen today. Moldovita Monastery that one can we see today dates back to 1532 and is due to ruling prince Petru Rares (1532-1546)*.

It has, like Sucevita, the aspect of a fortress, with imposing towers and high, thick walls (6 m high, 1.2 m wide).
According to the architectural tradition set by Stephen the Great, the church has a three-cusped plan, as well as an open porch. The masters who painted its interior and exterior walls have decorated them with scenes from 16th century Moldavian daily life. But the most interesting painting is the Siege of Constantinople on the south façade, relating to the Romanians' fights against foreign invasions, especially Turks. The painting combines scenes of the siege of Constantinople from 1453 with others referring to a previous such attempt made by the Persians, in 626. The frescoes are due to Toma of Suceava and were painted in 1537, when Petru Rares had not yet given up his fight against the Sultan. Against an intense blue background, you can also see the Hymn to the Virgin composed by Metropolitan Sergius in thanksgiving for her intervention, while further along is a lovely Tree of Jesse, with dozens of figures entwined in a foliage. The Last Judgement is also present, and displays apocalyptic images of dignitaries being taken along by Satan to Hell. Another valuable fresco is that of the Customs of Heaven, also present at Humor, Arbore and Voronet monasteries, which is inspired by folk legends. In the ‘customs’ of heaven, the souls are judged as soon as they have died and go over several barriers before they enter Paradise with the angels' help, after having paid their tribute to devil publicans. This is the origin of an old Romanian tradition of throwing coins into a dead person’s coffin or into the recently dug grave, or throwing coins into the rivers that are crossed over by a burial procession on their way to the graveyard.On the right side of the nave, there is a mural painting of Petru Rares and his family, presenting the monastery to Jesus. Moldovita’s frescoes along with the ones at Voronet, have best preserved their colours which are astonishingly fresh and vivid.The two-storey “clisarnita” with a circular tower houses a rich museum with 17th and 18th century books, as well as other monastic treasures, including a silver-chased Evangelistry presented by Catherine the Great, empress of Russia. The latter piece has not only a highly artistic and religious value, but also an intrinsic one, as each and every page of this book was made from the skin of an unborn lamb, killed together with his mother.
A nun monastery consecrated to St.George, Voronet lies at walking distance from the Gura Humorului town.

An old Romanian chronicle written by Ion Neculce records that Stephen the Great founded Voronet Monastery in 1488 to fulfil a pledge to the hermit Daniil who had encouraged the ruling prince of Moldavia to chase the Turks from Wallachia. After having won the battle against the Turks, Stephen erected Voronet in three months and 21 days, on the very spot Daniil had his small wooden hermitage. Its interior and exterior paintings were made later on, between 1534-1535, during prince Petru Rares' rule and at the behest of Metropolitan Grigore Rosca, a salient scholar of his time, who also added to it a porch in 1547. Voronet Monastery is probably the most accomplished sample of artistic achievement in Moldavian architecture and painting. The monastery was built at a time of peace with the Turks, when Stephen had centralized the state, giving a new impetus to its economy and culture. The Church has a trefoil form proper to the medieval Moldavian architectural style, predominantly Byzantine. Voronet is quite impressive by its size, i.e. 25.50 m long (apart from the porch), and 7.70 m wide. The doors of the porch have a Renaissance framing, whereas the stone carvings of the broken arches at doors and windows belong to the Gothic style. The existence of exterior butresses signal a Romanic and Gothic architectural influence in the strengthening of constructions, and hence the affiliation to western styles of art.
The paintings on the church walls which have been made by masters whose names remained unknown, except that of Marcu, master painter, whose name is inscribed on the left side of the entrance door, have a distinctive chromatic harmony, a special manner of composition, nerve and clarity. They are imbued with the softness and warmth of the Moldavian spirit, whereas their colours were drawn from the surrounding nature abounding in blue and green. Voronet Monastery has been dubbed the "Oriental Sistine Chapel", whereas Voronet blue, a colour obtained from lapis lazuli entered the lexicon of art alongside Titian red and Veronese green.
The artistic approach of painters has a warm humanism, as religious scenes depict Moldavian living people of those times. Thus the angels of the frescoes have the sweet faces of Moldavian women, the archangels blow the bucium - a Romanian shepherd's musical instrument similar to an alpenhorn-, the souls carried to heaven are wrapped in Moldavian towels, whereas the souls doomed to the fire of hell wear turbans just like the Turks - Moldavia's fierce enemies at the time. The "Last Judgement" painted on the western wall of the church is probably the finest composition among the paintings of the monasteries in Moldavia.

In the fire of hell (a grand funnel of live coals opening at the feet of Jesus), sinners among whom, illustrious characters, kings, popes are struggling their way out. Near the seat of judgement, Adam and Eve are represented, along with bands of prophets, hierarchs, martyrs and Moses. In another illustration, a hand is holding the scales of justice where the sins of mankind judgement are being weighed. To the right and to the left, the devils are quarreling for possession of the accused. Among the sinners, there are many Turks and Tartars, with harsh faces and fierce looks. The "Resurrection of the Dead", a very dramatic scene, is performed to the sound of the bucium. The animals, too, take part in the judgement, handing back fragments of human torsos to complete the bodies that were torn to pieces by wild beasts. The deer alone has nothing to hand back, for in Romanian folklore it stands for innocence. At the Gate of Heaven people rush to get in; the painter wishes to express humorously how people hurry to enter the Garden of Eden. The southern wall displays "Jesse's Tree", the fabulous genealogy of Jesus. A fresco including eight panels and almost one hundred characters develops in luxurious interweaving of vine branches and tendrils. Also on the southern side are painted the portraits of Grigore Rosca and Daniil the Hermit. On the northern wall, more exposed to the elements of weather, there are still a few elements representing the "Creation of the World" and a popular legend, "Temptation of Adam", which is also painted at Sucevita and Moldovita monasteries. Among the paintings on the interior walls of the church mentioned should be made of "The Last Supper", wheareas the nave holds a painting representing Stephen the Great, his wife, Lady Maria Voichita, and their son, Bogdan. The chair of the ruler in the church is a masterpiece of wood carving. The history of the Romanian culture has included Voronet Monastery as a place of reference where historic and religious works were issued. Among them, it is worth mentioning "The Old Manuscript from Voronet" and "The Psalm Book from Voronet". Daniil the Hermit has been canonized as a saint and celebrated by the Orthodox Church on the 18th of December; his tomb is to be found on the right hand side of the narthex.