Mănăstirea Sucevița
Part of Bucovina
The largest and last of Bucovina's painted monasteries, ringed by fortress walls.
History
Built in 1585 by the Movilă family — brothers Ieremia and Simion Movilă, later both princes of Moldavia — Sucevița is the largest and, having been decorated around 1601, the last of Bucovina's painted monasteries. Unlike its more famous neighbor Voroneț, it was built as a fortified complex from the start, ringed by walls up to six meters high and three meters thick with a defensive tower at each corner, doubling as both monastery and refuge. Its exterior frescoes are especially dense, covering nearly every surface, including a striking Ladder of Virtue on the north wall. UNESCO added it to the Painted Churches of Moldavia listing in 2010, the most recent of the group to be inscribed.