Voronet Monastery, code SV-II-a-A-05675. A historical monument included in 1993 in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, nicknamed by specialists “Sistine Chapel of the Orient”. Located 4 km from the center of Gura Humorului, 36 km from Suceava and 58 km from Câmpulung Moldovenesc.
Founded by Stephen the Great, dedicated to St. George, now a nunnery, it was built in record time between May and September 1488, in 3 months and 3 weeks. Of trefoil plan (triconch), having narthex, nave and altar, an exonartex (porch) was added in 1547.
Voroneț’s world fame is due to its exterior frescoes, the best preserved in Bukovina, especially a unique shade of blue, called by specialists “Voroneț blue”.
Academician Sorin Dumitrescu pointed out that “the move of the Last Judgment from inside the church outside it and its location on the outside of the western wall and near the entrance to the church is a Moldavian stylistic premiere of Gothic origin.”
He also considers that the Rareșian ark church is “a constructive model for the first time in the world, the result of the synthesis of the ark of the Tradition of the Inseparable Church, preserved by Eastern Christianity, with the monstrance, goldsmith” launched “by the pietism of the early 16th century.” Monstrance = piece of goldsmithing from the altar of the Roman Catholic churches.
