Moldovita
While it requires a fraction more effort to get here than to the slightly more commercial monasteries at Voronet and Humor, this is where you'll find some of the best preserved of all the monastery frescoes. Looked after by a group of 42 exceedingly friendly nuns (the oldest of whom, Mica Marina, is in her late 80s, and has been here since she was 14), the church was built by Petra Rares, the illegitimate son of Stephen the Great, between 1532 and 1537, to replace an earlier church erected by Alexander the Good (Alexandru cel Bun). Notable here is the distinctive narrative style of the Byzantine technique; in many of the frescoes, you can discern two different points in time within a single frame. In other words, a single image is used to tell a story. Moldovita's exterior has been badly defaced -- first by Turkish invaders who carved out the eyes of the frescoed characters in order to spare being judged by them, and later during the Austro-Hungarian occupation by Germanic visitors who carved their names into the porch walls. Inside, the first two rooms of the church are covered in representations of each day of the church calendar; if you can find a nun who speaks English, she may help you find the day of your birth and so identify the patron saint of your birthday. The museum, in one corner of the complex, houses Petru Rares's throne, as well as the monastery's prized "Pomme d'Or" (Golden Apple) award from UNESCO.
While it requires a fraction more effort to get here than to the slightly more commercial monasteries at Voronet and Humor, this is where you'll find some of the best preserved of all the monastery frescoes. Looked after by a group of 42 exceedingly friendly nuns (the oldest of whom, Mica Marina, is in her late 80s, and has been here since she was 14), the church was built by Petra Rares, the illegitimate son of Stephen the Great, between 1532 and 1537, to replace an earlier church erected by Alexander the Good (Alexandru cel Bun). Notable here is the distinctive narrative style of the Byzantine technique; in many of the frescoes, you can discern two different points in time within a single frame. In other words, a single image is used to tell a story. Moldovita's exterior has been badly defaced -- first by Turkish invaders who carved out the eyes of the frescoed characters in order to spare being judged by them, and later during the Austro-Hungarian occupation by Germanic visitors who carved their names into the porch walls. Inside, the first two rooms of the church are covered in representations of each day of the church calendar; if you can find a nun who speaks English, she may help you find the day of your birth and so identify the patron saint of your birthday. The museum, in one corner of the complex, houses Petru Rares's throne, as well as the monastery's prized "Pomme d'Or" (Golden Apple) award from UNESCO.
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