After having visited the Moldovita Monastery we headed to the Sucevita Monastery, the last and grandest of the Monastic complexes to have been built in Bucovina. It is a monument to the Prince of Moldavia, Ieremia Movila, his brother and successor Simion and his widow Elisabeta who according to historical accounts poisoned Simion so that her own sons might inherit the throne.
The Monastery church was founded in 1584, followed by the walls, the towers and the belfry thereafter. Its red and blue frescoes with an undercoat of emerald green were painted by two brothers, Ioan Zugravul and Sofronie in 1596.
The ladder of virtue covers the northern
wall as you enter the Monastery by the gate tower. Flights of angels
assist the righteous to paradise, whilst the sinners fall through the
rungs into the arms of the demon.
The tree of Jesse in the south wall symbolizing the continuity between the Old and the New Testament is a literal depiction of the prophecy in Isaiah that the Messiah will spring form "the stem of Jesse" (bottom left picture).
Outside the south porch the two-headed Beast of the Apocalypse and angels pouring rivers of fire.
(To be continued)
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