Painted Monasteries of Bucovina

Religion is a major part of the Romanian culture, whether the person be of German, Hungarian, Jewish, Ukrainian, Polish or Romanian heritage. Because we saw the significance of the church in the culture, it surprised me that the Lonely Planet guide book only included two lines on it, but those two lines explained a lot of the diversity in the country. According to the book 86.7% of the population is Eastern Orthodox Christian, 7.5% Protestant, and 4.7% Roman or Greek Catholic. The remainder is split between Muslims, Jehovah's Witness and Judaism. Typically the three largest minorities attribute their beliefs to the three most prevalent religions, with Romanian's associating with Eastern Orthodox, Germans with Protestantism and the Hungarian's with Catholicism. One would assume that this creates even greater cause for tensions amongst the groups, however, the Romanians have appeared to overcome even this obstacle. I really enjoyed hearing about the people in Sighisoara who have three churches within such close proximity who socialize flawlessly before dividing themselves into their personal denominations on Sundays.

One of the most spectacular representations of religion in the history of Romania is the multiple painted monasteries in the region of Bucovina.


Many of the monasteries data back to the 15th and 16th century frescoes and are celebrated Byzantine masterpieces. By making stories of the Bible and lives of the most important Orthodox figures to educate the townspeople. This helped the spread of religion and plays a role in the proliferation of Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

 Even though I was sick during the tours, it was something I simply couldn't give up because of the once in a lifetime opportunity. It was amazing to learn about repetitive messages that were consistent on all of the monasteries as well as the differentiations between them all. My favorite image is still judgement day on the back of the second monastery. It was so full of life and color it was not hard to believe that people could have faith in such magnificence. Another really fascinating aspect of the monasteries was the depiction of the calendar. Though it initially seemed complex, it was impressive the way they had created such a simplistic system for the laypeople to understand.