Moldovita Monastery

MOLDOVITA was built in 1410 on the site of an older wooden monastery. The 1532 earthquake damaged it severely causing it to be relocated on a safer site at the order of Prince Petru Rares. Inheriting the tradition of his father Stephen the Great but also due to his wife Elena, Petru Rares proved to be a brilliant servant of God. He built churches and monasteries in Rasca, Baia and Suceava, Targu Frumos, Harlau and Moldovita, and he asked the painters to painted the outside walls not only of the churches and abbeys that he erected but also of those founded by his predecessors, among which Voronet church built by Stephen the Great.

The most famous of all the churches and abbeys founded by Petru Rares is the Moldovita Monastery. It was finished in 1532 but the inside and outside scenes were painted five years later. The painter remained unknown by present times. Excepting the northern wall, the exterior frescoes are in good condition.

Moldovita looks like a genuine citadel: it has over 5m high exterior walls and five defending towers.

In the museum we could admire an impressive collection of wood carved objects as Petru Rares’ throne, a genuine wooden gem.