MOLDOVITA MONASTERY

Location: Bucovina - Northeastern Romania

Nearby large town: Suceava (55 miles southeast)

The Monastery of Moldovita (Mol do vee' tsa), located in the village of Vatra Moldovitei, was built by Petru Rares in 1532.

The Siege of Constantinople frescoes were inspired by a poem dedicated to the Virgin Mary in thanksgiving for her intervention in saving the city of Constantinople from a Persian attack in A.D. 626. In a wonderful political spin, considering the Ottoman threat to Moldavia in the 1500s, the Siege on the walls of Moldovita Church depicts the enemy as turbaned Turks rather than Persians.

The predominantly gold and deep blue paintings on the exterior walls were completed in 1537. The large and vivid Siege of Constantinople highlights the frescoes.

Another stunning representation depicts the Tree of Jesse, representing Christ's genealogy, a wide-spread iconographical theme in Europe during the Middle Ages.