In the area around the city of Suceava, Romania there are some world famous painted monasteries. Painted on the outside and the inside. These monasteries were all built after battles won by Stefan Cel Mare, the first ruler to bring together what is not Romania. The monasteries are painted on the outside with scenes from the bible. This was important in the 1500's since most people could not read. Thw first one here is the monastery at Suceavita.
This one is the monastery at Moldovita. It is amazing that the paintings on the outside have survived for over 400 years. The paintings on the north side of the monasteries are mostly faded and degraded but the south side, protected from the weather has survived remarkably well. Also the round end of the church, like you see here always faces east.
This one is the most famous of the group of painted monasteries. This is the one at Vornet. It is most famous because of the blue color that can be found on the walls. It is a blue that they are not sure how the painters of the day were able to make. Since this was almost 500 years ago, they did not write down the formula of what they added to make the color.
The last one is the smallest of the monasteries the monastery Humorului. So on Monday I took a tour around the area and was able to see these 4 monasteries. I visited them all on a whirlwind trip in 2007, so it was nice to be able to spend some more time enjoying and marveling at how old they are and how well they have held up against the weather. I have more pictures of the pictures on the outside of these monasteries if any one is interested. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will be heading back to Bucharest for my last week of this year's adventure, doing a little sight-seeing and resting up from my adventures before heading home.
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