The monasteries of Bucovina · Arbore, Suceava County
1503 · hetman Luca Arbore · UNESCO monument
A church with no tower, no porch and no pretensions, which belongs nonetheless to the world heritage. Arbore green is Bucovina's third colour, after the blue of Voroneț and the red of Humor, and on the west wall you can see the hollows where the painters ground their pigments five hundred years ago.
If you only have a minute
It is not a monastery but the church of a boyar's court, yet it belongs to the eight UNESCO monuments and is visited on the same circuit. Arbore green is the third defining colour of Bucovina painting, after the blue of Voroneț and the red of Humor.
What you find only here
On the west facade, at hand height, there are fifteen hollows in the stone. In them, the people who painted the church ground their pigments, five hundred years ago. It is not a museum reconstruction and nothing signposts it: it is the actual trace of their work, left in the wall. Nowhere else in Bucovina can you see anything like it.
Open daily, with shorter hours than at the monasteries.
A simple form, close to the civil architecture of the day, with a wide roof and a great niche on the west facade sheltering the painting. It is the smallest of the UNESCO monuments.
You arrive in the courtyard and look around without knowing where. These are 4 places on the walls that people who know look for.
Fifteen hollows in the stone, where the pigments were ground. The traces can still be seen.
A deep recess, almost as wide as the wall, which shelters the painting from rain. It is the solution that kept the colours.
The third defining colour of Bucovina painting, made from local earths.
The slab of the beheaded founder, laid there shortly after the execution.
Things that are less widely known, and that nobody tells you at the gate.
On the west wall there are hollows where the painters ground their pigments. The traces can still be seen.
Luca Arbore, warden of Suceava, was executed on the order of Ștefăniță Vodă in 1523, on a charge of treason. He lies buried in the church he built.
The form is that of a simple hall, with a wide roof, close to the civil architecture of the day.
If you only have 30 minutes: The west wall, with the niche and the painters' hollows.
Almost nobody; you visit in peace.
Groups pass through here between Sucevița and Suceava.
The low light enters the niche and brings out the green.
Call ahead: the hours shorten a great deal.
UNESCO painted monastery
Solca 8 kma monastery and a town with mineral waters
Suggested circuit: Arbore → Solca → Sucevița, on the road that skirts Rădăuți.
Arbore, jud. Suceava · 75 km from Câmpulung Moldovenesc
Further on
Hours and fees change from one season to the next, and we could not confirm them from an official source.
Book direct
No platform commission. Self check-in, late check-out when possible and free cancellation up to seven days before.
Via Transilvanica