Suceava County
Stephen the Great's answer to Ottoman armies: fortress-monasteries with exterior frescoes including the mysterious "Voronet blue" pigment.
Suceava County exists because Stephen the Great built painted monasteries to educate illiterate peasants facing Ottoman armies. When marauding Turks threatened Moldavia, Stephen III (1457-1504) constructed fortress-monasteries with exterior frescoes depicting Biblical scenes - visual instruction for soldiers and villagers who assembled within defensive walls. UNESCO inscribed seven churches in 1993 (plus Sucevita in 2010) for their "masterpieces of mural painting" and "consummate chromatism." Voronet Monastery (1488) is famous for its unique blue pigment - "Voronet blue" - whose formula remains unknown. Sucevita's Ladder to Paradise, Moldovita's Siege of Constantinople, and Arbore's patron saints cover every exterior surface. The region was Moldavia's political center until 1574 when the capital moved to Iasi. Habsburg annexation in 1774 created the historical entity of Bukovina ("beech-covered lands"). The landscape of Northern Carpathians and Suceava Plateau hosts diverse populations: Germans, Jews, Poles, Ukrainians alongside Romanians. Patrauti (1487) is the oldest preserved Stephen the Great monastery. By 2026, painted monastery tourism will anchor the economy while traditional multi-ethnic culture persists.