Arbore is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

located in

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county ('' ro, județ'') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat is the historical town ...

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...

, northeastern

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It is composed of three villages: namely Arbore, Bodnăreni, and Clit.

Church of Arbore

Arbore is best known for its church, dedicated to

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

. Its painted church was the first painted church to be included on the UNESCO

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

of the

Churches of Moldavia The north of the Moldavia region in Romania preserves numerous religious buildings as a testimony of the Moldavian architectural style developed in the Principality of Moldavia starting from the 14th century. Of these, eight Romanian Orthodox C ...

. The monastery and the commune are named after the

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

Luca Arbore Luca Arbore or Arbure (Old Cyrillic: ; Renaissance Latin: ''Herborus''Nicolae Iorga, "Cronică", in ''Revista Istorică'', Issues 7–9/1934, p. 291 or ''Copacius''; died April 1523) was a Moldavian boyar, diplomat, and statesman, several times c ...

who built the church in 1503. The construction of the church was completed in about 5 months. Its exterior paintings date from 1541 and were made by

Dragoș Coman Dragoş Coman (born October 16, 1980 in Bucharest) is an international freestyle swimmer from Romania, who represented his native country at three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 2000 in Sydney, Australia. A year earlier, at the Europ ...

. Painting the church took about 40 years.

Conservation state of outside paintings

The outside paintings on the western wall are the most well preserved, as opposed to those on the northern facade, which suffered extensive weather-related damage. This damage arose mostly because the church roof was plundered by marauding

Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

troops and melted in order to make bullets (the original roof was made of lead).

Church interior

Due to its more modest dimensions, the inside of the church consists of only 3 chambers: ''pronaos'', ''naos'' and altar. The burial chamber seen in other Moldavian churches (''gropniță'') is merged with the pronaos. It contains the tombs of hetman Luca Arbore and his family. The inside painting also includes two votive paintings, depicting hetman Arbore and his family offering the church to God through the intercession of Saint John the Baptist. The reason for having two (rather than one) votive paintings is not clear, although some speculate that they were necessary to depict all children in the boyar's numerous family (even so, some are still not included).

Gallery

File:Biserica romano-catolica din Arbore.jpg, The Roman Catholic church belonging to the former German community File:Biserica romano-catolica din Arbore2.jpg, The Roman Catholic church belonging to the former German community File:Biserica evanghelica din Arbore.jpg, The Evangelical Lutheran church belonging to the former German community File:Biserica Arbore10.jpg, Arbore Orthodox Monastery

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120229043729/http://www.users.cloud9.net/~romania/Churches/Arbore_pictures.htm

References

Communes in Suceava County Localities in Southern Bukovina Duchy of Bukovina {{Suceava County