Romania - Eastern Europe - page 554

is Monica ( & 0230/52-5213; www.classhostel.home.ro). Besides operating a local
hostel, this bright-eyed entrepreneur is on good terms with many of the nuns, which
makes the visits even more special. Monica is also the most careful driver in Romania.
Trips to the monasteries can also be arranged through Icar Tours (Str. ! tefan cel Mare
24, Suceava; & 0230/52-4894; www.icar.ro), an agency that's also useful for other
travel needs. DiscoveRomania (see “Tours & Travel Agents,” earlier in this chapter)
includes the Moldavian churches on one of its itineraries.
Dragomirna Monastery Fabulously situated amid rolling fields (a
mere 15 min. by car from Suceava), these monumental defensive walls secured one of
Bucovina's most elegant churches. While it's not on the UNESCO list and does not
feature exterior frescoes, the combination of Georgian, Armenian, and Byzantine
architectural elements has created a building that is akin to a beautiful stone space-
ship, graced by a 42m (138 ft.) tower (undergoing many years of restoration). Pay
your entry fee to the nun behind the souvenir counter in the entryway, where you can
buy a decorative egg covered with beads studiously applied with beeswax by one of the
60 nuns who live here. Then venture into the nave. Unlike the other monastic
churches, this one is very active, with Mass held from 8:30am until noon; try to come
for this beautiful Orthodox ritual. Before leaving, ask the ticketing nun to show you
the museum of medieval art, reached via the stairway near the entrance to the com-
plex. Among various religious relics is the rather phallic candle of consecration, made
from beeswax by Bishop Anastasie Crimca, who established the church between 1602
and 1609, when the candle was first lit.
Dragomirna, 4km (2 1 ⁄ 2 miles) from Mitocul Drogomirnei, 12km (7 1 ⁄ 2 miles) from Suceava. Admission L4 ($1.45). Daily
8am-7pm.
Voronet Revered for its Last Judgment fresco, Voronet is regarded by Roma-
nians as the “Sistine Chapel of the East”; it remains marvelously preserved, despite
being in disuse from the start of Habsburg rule in 1785 until 1991. Built by ! tefan
cel Mare in 1488 after a victorious battle against the Turks, the construction took just
3 months and 3 weeks; frescoes were added in 1534 and 1535, during the reign of
Stephen's illegitimate son Petru Rare @ . The paintings here epitomize a Moldavian
innovation in Byzantine painting, exemplified by the degree of chromatic harmony
and a new humanism with religious scenes featuring recognizable aspects of the Mol-
davian people of the time, like the faces of the angels, purportedly based on Molda-
vian women. Look out also for archangels blowing the bucium, an instrument used by
Romanian shepherds, and the portrayals of doomed souls—all have fierce faces and
wear turbans, characterizing them as Turks. The exterior fresco work is characterized
by the use of a spectacular blue, said to be of such originality that it has earned the
sobriquet “Voronet blue.”
But it is the marvelously preserved Last Judgment on the western facade that leaves
you breathless; it's an excellent example of Christian art as a dire warning against pagan-
ism and wickedness. It's also a fascinating marriage of biblical and secular symbolism.
Notice, for example, the inclusion of the wild animals being judged for tearing apart
their human victims, pieces of which they now return, while among them a lone deer
stands empty-handed since this animal represents innocence in Romanian folklore.
Notice also how, at Christ's feet, important figures—kings and popes—struggle to get
out of hell, while elsewhere people clamber to enter the Gates of Heaven. Near the seat
of Judgment, Adam and Eve are depicted alongside various prophets and martyrs;

Moments