The monasteries of Bucovina · Mănăstirea Humorului, Suceava County
1530 · chancellor Toader Bubuiog · UNESCO monument
The smallest of the painted monasteries, and the only one raised by a boyar rather than a prince. It has no tower, a low silhouette, and an earth red that stands in for the blue of Voroneț, twelve kilometres away.
If you only have a minute
The only one of the painted monasteries not raised by a prince but by a boyar: chancellor Toader Bubuiog, with the consent of Petru Rareș. It is also the smallest, which gives it an intimacy the others have lost. Red dominates here, as blue does at Voroneț.
What you find only here
Above the burial room, between vault and roof, there is a chamber reached only by a movable ladder. The treasures were hidden there when danger came. The hiding chamber at Humor is the first of its kind in Moldavian architecture, and the church is also the only one of the painted series without a tower over the nave: the low, drawn-out silhouette makes it recognisable from the gate.
Open daily. The defence tower inside the walls can be climbed.
The only church of the series without a tower over the nave, which gives it that low, drawn-out silhouette. It has, in exchange, the first burial room with a hiding chamber above it in Moldavian architecture.
You arrive in the courtyard and look around without knowing where. These are 5 places on the walls that people who know look for.
It is the only church of the painted series without a tower over the nave. That gives it the drawn-out shape, easy to recognise.
Made from local iron-rich earths, it is as characteristic as the blue of its neighbour.
That is where the treasures were hidden in times of danger.
It can be climbed: from the top you see the Obcine ridges.
Toader Bubuiog, grand chancellor, lies in the church he built; his wife, in the burial room.
Things that are less widely known, and that nobody tells you at the gate.
The only church of the painted series without a tower over the nave, which gives it that low, drawn-out silhouette, easy to recognise.
The dominant shade, made from local iron-rich earths, is as characteristic as the blue of its neighbour at Voroneț.
Toader Bubuiog was grand chancellor; he lies in the narthex, and his wife Anastasia in the burial room.
Above the burial room there is a secret chamber, reached only by a movable ladder, where the treasures were hidden in times of danger.
The defence tower in the courtyard was added in 1641 and can be climbed: from the top you see the Obcine ridges.
the DN17 to Gura Humorului, then the DJ177
the DN17, then the DJ177
through Gura Humorului
If you only have 30 minutes: The south wall and the tower in the courtyard, if it is open for climbing.
The quietest of the four monasteries in the area.
It fits into the same morning as Voroneț.
The low light catches the red of the south wall well.
Open.
the other painted monastery near Gura Humorului
a town, restaurants, the Museum of Folk Customs
Suggested circuit: Humor → Voroneț → Gura Humorului for lunch, then Moldovița if the day allows.
Yes, for pilgrims, around forty places. Call ahead: around the feasts they fill up months in advance.
Mănăstirea Humorului, jud. Suceava · 40 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