The Painted Monasteries of Southern Bukovina

 March 20, 2026

Former Jewish Synagogue, Campulung Moldovenesc

Moldavita Monastery Grounds

View from the north, where the frescoes have been damaged by winter storms

Detail, Siege of Constatinople, exterior south wall

The wise men/magi visit baby jesus

An angel warns the magi return by a different route to avoid Herod

Jesus and his family flee to Egypt. You can feel movement in the painting

Pasul Ciumârna, between Moldavita & Sucevita on a late winter's day

Sucevita Monastery Grounds

South wall, Sucevita

Jesus Crucified. The bent portrayal was different than I was used to, but probably more consistent with a crucifixion.

Down from the cross

Judas receives thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus

Entombed

Ruşita the cat

Humor Monastery grounds

Red is the predominant color at Humor

Sighisoara/Schassburg/Segesvár

 March 18 to 19, 2026

A walk after dark:

Clock tower

The Butchers Tower

Covered staircase to the school

The Bootmakers Tower

In the morning:

Casa cu Cerb (Antler House)

At the clock tower/museum:

Elaborately-carved door

Clavichord

Sfantul Ioromi (St. Jerome) Painting

City Crest

Clock mechanism

Days of week figurines. Being a Thursday, the God of Thunder (Thor) is visible from the exterior. Yesterday was Mercury, while tomorrow is Venus. Like the French Mercredi and Vendredi, the words for Wednesday and Ftiday in Romania are based on Mercury and Venus.

On the Clock tower deck

View to the lower city

Tanners Tower (small one behind the green house) and Tinsmiths Tower. The Church on the hill in the background

Piaţi Cetăţii

Monastery Church Steeple

Colorful houses 

The Ropemakers Tower next to the Church on the Hill

In the Church on the Hill:

Frescoes depicting St. George

Vibrant blue angel wings

In the crypt

Young woman from New York singing on the altar

Biserica din Deal (Church on the Hill)

School to which the covered walkway leads

The Butchers and Furriers Towers

Covered walkway

Butchers Tower

Tailors Tower

Courtyard of Armaments Museum

Bookmakers Tower 

Vlad Ţepeş, the town's most famous native son

Indulgences from 1298 granting Dominicans right to establish a Monastery at Schassburg

Interior of The Monastery Church 

The organ (late 1600s) has over 2,000 pipes

The Last Supper depicts the faces of the contemporaneous council members

Top: Dead from World War II. Bottom: Those who never returned from Soviet Captivity

Coopers Guild

Ropemakers Guild

Ironsmiths Guild

Tanners Guild 

God offering protection to the church. A recent  filmmaker asserted it depicted a UFO 

Bookmakers Guild 

Keeping gods word in your heart

Stork nest northeast of Bistriţa on the drive to Bukovina

Dusk on the Carpathians

At Campulung Moldenesc