Sucevita: MRA-ROU-Suc001
Type Sample Item
Sample ID
- MRA-ROU-Suc001
Sample Material Type
- Mural painting
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 4.1
- Width
- 1.3
- Height
- 1.05
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 8.92
Geographic Location
- Country
- Romania
- Place
- Sucevita
Site/monument
- Romania (ROU)
Sucevita
Sucevita Monastery
Historical note about the site/monument
- Sucevita Monastery is a convent located in the northern-eastern Romania. The monastery was built in 1585 by Ieremia Movilă, Gheorghe Movilă and Simion Movilă, that were big boyars, scribes and even rulers of Moldova and Romanian Country in the 16th-17th centuries. The church of the monastery is a UNESCO heritage since 1993. The architecture uses elements of Byzantine and Gothic art, together with features typical of the wooden churches in Moldovia. Both interior and exterior walls are covered by early 17th-century mural paintings featuring biblical episodes from the Old and New Testament. Given the late dating, Sucevița monastery is one of the last to be decorated in the famous Moldavian style of exterior paintings. Generally speaking, the monastery has got the features of both a princely residence and a fortified monastery. Indeed, the interior court of the monastic ensemble is made of very solid walls, almost 3 m wide and 6 m high, and includes four defensive towers on each corner of the external setting. The building include the defensive structures, the magnificent burials of Ieremia and Simon Movilă, the church and the monastic house, that included one of the most important workshops for manuscript before, and printed books then.
Further reading:
Cmeciu, Camelia-Mihaela & Druga, Luminita (2011). Romanian Monasteries: Signs of Tourist Attraction and Self-Discovery. In: The European Legacy: 16(6), pp. 751-768, DOI: 10.1080/10848770.2011.608008.
Chronological period (sample)
- 16th century
Date of sampling
- Unknown
- Yes
Other related archival documents
- Official letter from Direction des Monuments historiques to the Director of ICR for the samples assignments [ photo 20180803_145150]. The document includes the list of samples with description and sampling place [photos 20180803_115020; 20180803_145211 and 20180803_145230 ]; image of the sampling places [photo 20180803_115330] and ambiental condition data [photo 20180803_145250]. EB86: folder 12_Romania 1961.
Related samples
- This sample is related with samples from MRA-ROU-Suc002 to MRA-ROU-Suc010
Other information about the sample
- The samples were sent to ICR for analysis. The goals of the research are unknown.
Support
- Support material type
- Lime-based mortar
- Number of layers
- 1
- Aprox. thickness (from bottom to top in cm)
- 1
- Colour (from bottom to top)
- White
- Material description
- Lime-based mortar with fine siliceous and lithic aggregates (˂1mm), coarse ceramic fragments and straw pieces.
Finishing Layers
- Finishing layers material type
- Paint layer
- Number of layers
- 1
- Aprox. thickness (μm)
- 500
- Colour
- Yellow
- Material description
- Yellow paint layer with visible brushstrokes