Romania: Painted Monasteries and a Merry Cemetery

Part 2: Bucovina and Maramureș

From Good Shepherd Tours, welcome back!  We continue our three-part journey in Romania as part of our tour of sacred places of pilgrimage in Europe.

To say that Romanians are in love with color is something of an understatement.  A love of bright colors displayed in folk art, flower gardens, national costumes and even the blue-yellow-red of the national flag underscore this truth. 

And while the Orthodox Church may seem to be a very somber and serious confession of the Christian faith to those unfamiliar to it, a visit to a Romanian Orthodox church will illustrate that it is anything but a dreary place to worship.  Colors and gilded surfaces are used extravagantly in iconography, church vestments, and interior decoration such as colored stain glass windows and the iconostasis, the three-doored gateway which hold icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the angels and saints that stands between the altar and the nave of the church.

In the region of Bukovina in the north of Romania near the Ukrainian border, a grouping of monasteries is known for its uniquely elaborate use of iconography. Known as the "painted monasteries", nearly two dozen churches and monasteries were lavishly illustrated, sometimes on every exterior and interior wall, ceiling and flat surface save the floors (it being disrespectful to step on sacred images) during the 15th and 16th centuries. With their unique architectural designs of thick and often rounded exterior walls, extended sloping roofs to protect exterior frescos, and towering church spires, the monasteries and churches often give off a nearly oriental feel. The most famous of these unique places of worship include the monasteries of Arbore, Humor, Moldovita, Probota and Sucevita. The iconography was in part used as an illustrative educational tool for the peasants with limited education, telling biblical stories, such as the Book of Genesis as depicted Arbore Monastery, the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, the saints and the coming judgement of man as found at Sucevita.  A visit to these sacred places, often encircled by a defensive wall, is often like stepping into another world, where the cares and worries of modern life are replaced by the sound of chanting monks, church bells and the smell of incense.  

To the west of Bukovina and still along the northern border lies the county of Maramureș, and within it, the town of Săpânța, best known for being the place of "The Merry Cemetery," where the tall-spired, multi-colored Orthodox church is surrounded by countless graves marked with brightly-colored grave markers that illustrate the lives of those who have departed and are awaiting the resurrection.  Decorated in the style of traditional village art, the markers often have light-hearted, even humorous and whimsical epitaphs about the deceased that reinforce the regional mindset that death can be a joyous occasion for those that hope to reach heaven after the struggle in life.

Fascinating, timeless and somewhat mysterious, the decorative iconography of Romania’s churches, monasteries and even one of the most unusual cemeteries in all of the world give hint to an outlook of a people that do not waste a single hue in the pallet of creation that God has provided the world.

Be Not Afraid!

Good Shepherd Travel offers trips to Romania as part of their Holy Land tours.  Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Ireland, and many other destinations are among our most popular programs.  For more information on how to begin preparing for a pilgrimage in late 2021 and 2022, contact Tony AbuAita at Tony@goodshepherdtravel.com.  We will return to pilgrimage – and we hope to see you with us!