Probota Monastery

Why come here

The place where it all began. Probota is the first Moldavian church painted on the outside, and everything that follows, Voroneț included, copies the model set here. The frescoes spent a century under lime, which hid them but also saved them.

The first of the churches painted on the outside, and the burial place of Petru Rareș. The frescoes were covered for centuries by a layer of lime and were recovered in a UNESCO restoration project completed in the 2000s.

What you find only here

The place where exterior painting was invented

Everything that means a church painted on the outside in Bucovina, Voroneț included, starts here. At Probota, in 1532, the first attempt was made to cover whole facades with fresco, and the closed porch, also a first, is what made it possible: painting needs an unbroken wall. Then, in the nineteenth century, somebody whitewashed the lot. That layer hid them for a century, but it also sheltered them from the weather; the restoration, in a UNESCO project, took over ten years.

In brief

Don't miss the hidden gems

You arrive in the courtyard and look around without knowing where. These are 3 places on the walls that people who know look for.

1. 1
   The closed porch At the entrance.

   The first structure of its kind in Moldavia. Without it, exterior painting would not have been possible: it needs an unbroken wall.

2. 2
   Petru Rareș's tomb In the burial room.

   The prince who commissioned nearly all the painted churches lies buried in the first of them.

3. 3
   The frescoes recovered from under lime On the facades.

   The nineteenth-century lime layer hid them, but it also sheltered them from the weather. What you see today is the result of more than ten years of restoration.

Curiosities: Probota Monastery

Things that are less widely known, and that nobody tells you at the gate.

• The first painted on the outside

  Probota opens the series, in 1532. Everything that comes after, including the exterior of Voroneț, follows the model set here.

• The frescoes lay under lime

  A layer applied in the nineteenth century hid them, but also protected them. The restoration took more than a decade.

• The burial place of Petru Rareș

  The prince, lady Elena and two of their sons lie buried here.

How much time you need

If you only have 30 minutes: The porch and Rareș's tomb.

Visiting rules

• Decent dress.
• It is further off the usual circuit, and so quieter; check the hours before you set off.

When to go

What else is nearby

Suggested circuit: Probota → Fălticeni → Suceava, if you come from the south.

Hours and fees change from one season to the next, and we could not confirm them from an official source. Checked in September 2026.