Research Bucovina, Vatra Moldovița. The Monastery And The Church - View With The Absida And The Turla Of The Church (1980)

Ioan George Andron · 1980

Moldovița Monastery is one of the oldest monk settlements, with a valuable history, one of the jewels of old Moldavian art, on the list of UNESCO World Cultural Heritage objectives. Moldovița Monastery Church, dedicated to “Annunciation,” continues the architectural style of Moldavian monasteries; in 1537 the church of Moldovița monastery was painted (the painting is attributed to Toma “Toma de la Humor” craftsman, who also painted Humor Monastery) in fresco, both inside and outside, in postByzantine style, with some new elements characteristic of the church school in Moldova. The paintings have a firm outline, delimiting the silhouettes, and especially a livelier chromatic, preserved much better, with bold associations, with a dominant earth (red, yellow, less green), combined with blue and white lime shining. Scenes unfold on a dark blue background, sometimes turned to gray on the inside, or to the violaceum on the outside due to the environmental factors that acted over time on the painting. The exterior painting of the Church “Annunciation” was best preserved, of all the churches from Bucovina. Especially on the south and east facades there are paintings that have not been erased by the passage of time and that breast capable of showing how bright the facades were decorated during the reign of Petru Rareș. Just under the streets, we smear 105 niches, each with a painted angel. On the west pillar, on the left side of the entrance and on the high opening of the south facade, three military saints on horses standing with a sword or a spear in hands. The above is St. Gheorghe, then Sf. Dumitru and St. Mercurius. On the south facade, is the Acatist religious carriage. The 24 stanzas of the hymn cover four registers. The colors used by the painters from the Middle Ages preserved their vivid character. The Yellow of Moldovița would deserve to be as famous as the blue of Voronede. Viewed from afar, so that you can no longer distinguish well the silhouettes and outlines, the painting offers restful, harmonious color spots, combination of yellow and the azure of the sky. To the west, the entrance to the church is made through a porch with five arches: three open to the west and one to the north and south. The three outer apses - one of the altar and two of the nave - are adorned with paintings representing the prayer scene of all the saints, to which are joined by the images of representatives of classical culture: Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and Sophocles, considered precursors of Christianity. On the north facade, due to the weather, the painting deteriorated greatly. In the upper part we keep two registers illustrating moments from the Lives of Saint Joachim and Ana. Next, fifteen scenes are preserved near the narthex, in two registers: the Sermon of the Holy Apostles and the scenes from the life of St. Anthony. The voivode Petru Rareș, art lover like his father Stefan cel Mare, who wants to continue the existence of Moldovița Monastery, chooses the place a little more at the place of the old church of Alexander the Good and builds the current Church of Moldavia. The stone was brought from the valley of the river Moldovița or broken from the mountain coast from Vama, not far from the monastery. During the same period, he encloses the church with walls and defense towers, giving it the appearance of a small fortress, closing a quadrilateral with sides of 40 meters, 1.20 meters thick and 6 meters high, this wall is preserved only on three sides, to the south being, in part, torn down. The church and the tower are ornate, on the outside, at the cornice, with a row of cellars and crumbs elongated at the apses, and the roof of the church is built of fir duck, with fast slopes and wide, oiled eaves, following the sinuous line of the apses, putting into value the stellate base of the tower, increases the verticality of the construction.