The monasteries of Bucovina · Sucevița, Suceava County
1584–1586 · the Movilă family · UNESCO monument
A fortress that happens to also be a monastery: six-metre walls, four towers, a sentry walk. Inside, the most complete exterior painting in all Bucovina, and on the north wall the Ladder of Virtues climbing thirty rungs, with angels helping and devils pulling down.
If you only have a minute
The last and best fortified of the painted monasteries: six-metre walls, four corner towers, a fortress in every sense. The exterior painting is the most complete of the whole series, and the Ladder of Virtues on the north wall, with its thirty rungs, is unique in Orthodox art.
What you find only here
Sucevița has the most complete exterior painting of the whole Bucovina series, thousands of figures across three facades. The western wall, though, stayed white, the only one among all the painted churches. No document explains why. The story told on the spot is that the painter fell from the scaffolding and the work stopped there. And on the north wall, the Ladder of Virtues climbs thirty rungs, with angels helping and devils pulling down: it is the fullest treatment of the theme in Moldavia.
Open daily, with longer hours in summer. The museum inside the walls keeps its own schedule.
It keeps the triconch plan but adds a porch and an open outer porch, with arcades on pillars, an element that came from Wallachia. The fortified enclosure is the last of its kind in Moldavia.
You arrive in the courtyard and look around without knowing where. These are 5 places on the walls that people who know look for.
Thirty rungs, angels climbing beside the good, devils dragging down the rest. It is the fullest treatment of its kind in Moldavia.
The only wall left white in the whole series of painted monasteries. No document explains why.
As Voroneț has its blue, Sucevița has a green of its own, made from local earths.
Six metres high, towers at the corners. It is the last monastic fortification raised in Moldavia.
The tomb covers of Ieremia and Simion Movilă, worked in gold and silver thread.
Things that are less widely known, and that nobody tells you at the gate.
The western wall was never painted. The explanation told on the spot: the painter fell from the scaffolding and the work stopped there.
On the north wall, angels help those who climb, and devils drag down those who fall. It is the fullest treatment of its kind in Moldavia.
Just as Voroneț has its blue, Sucevița has a green of its own, made from local earths.
The six-metre walls and the sentry walk were not decorative: Sucevița was the last monastic fortification raised in Moldavia.
Ieremia and Simion Movilă lie here, under slabs covered with embroideries kept in the museum.
the DN17A over the Ciumârna pass
the DN2 to Rădăuți, then the DN17A
DN17A
If you only have 30 minutes: The north wall, with the Ladder of Virtues, then round the church on the outside. Skip the museum.
The wide courtyard and the orchard look their best, and the groups have not started yet.
The busiest time, especially at weekends. Come in the morning, at opening.
The second half of September, with the hills changed all around.
The walls with snow along the crest are worth the drive, but check the Ciumârna pass.
the black-pottery centre, unique in Europe
another painted UNESCO monastery, over the Ciumârna pass
the Palma monument and the view over the Obcine ridges
Suggested circuit: Sucevița → Ciumârna pass → Moldovița → Vatra Moldoviței, with the obligatory stop at Palma.
Sucevița, jud. Suceava · 78 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.
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No platform commission. Self check-in, late check-out when possible and free cancellation up to seven days before.
Via Transilvanica