The beginnings of the Humor Monastery go back in time to the reign of Alexander the Good. In the vicinity of the current church of the Humor monastery, the ruins of an older monastery church erected at the beginning of the 15th century can still be seen today.
Towards the beginning of the century XVI, the monastery had probably been ruined and deserted during the numerous wars waged by Stephen the Great.
During the time of ruler Petru Rares, Humorul was included in the restoration campaign initiated by him, work carried out by the speechwriter Toader Bubuioc. From the inscription dug into the stone, placed at the entrance on the outer wall of the holy place, we learn that the church was built in 1530 "at the expense and effort" of the eloquent Teodor Bubuioc and his wife Anastasia, encouraged by voivode Petru Rares.
The monastic life of the monks was interrupted in 1785, when Bucovina was annexed by the Habsburg Empire.
Humor Monastery
The architecture of the sacred monument at Humor is of particular interest. Flat-plan building without a spire on the nave, as in the case of other boyar builders. The particular element is the open porch with arches, an innovation at the time determined both by the local constructive tradition (prispe, pavilions) and by Renaissance influences from the outside (the loggia was later taken over by the "Bracovene style"). A novelty is the secret located above the pit; especially during the countless days of restrictions, valuable items were kept here.
From the porch one enters the pronaos, and further into the chamber of the tombs and into the nave. Towards the east, the church ends with the circular apse of the altar, separated from the nave by a very old pediment, an exceptional wooden sculpture.
The church of the Humor monastery is counted, along with the churches from Voronet, Moldovita, Sucevita and Arbore, among the five founders decorated both inside and outside with Byzantine frescoes, which make them unique in the Orthodox world.
The interior painting, at least partially made by "Toma, painter from Suceava" (1535) preserves the iconographic scheme emphasizing the movement and humanism of the expressions. In the vestibule, the paintings depict the church Synaxar (calendar), the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God and the Holy Praying Virgin, angels and prophets.
In the room of the tombs, the vault is covered with scenes from the life of the Holy Virgin Mary. The icons of the Byzantine invoice (16th century), the portraits of the founders (the gravestones) and the tombstones are remarkable.
In the nave are painted faces of saints, the cycle of the Passion and the Resurrection, and on the vault, Christ the Pantocrator. Also in the nave are the paintings of the founders. In the altar, on the vault of the apse, is represented, traditionally, the Mother of God with the Child, next to the faces of holy hierarchs and the Last Supper.
The exterior painting fully shows the art of the master Toma - the oldest open-air frescoes in Bucovina, where, says the critic Vasile Dragut, "... a festive orchestration of warm colors speaks for itself, on the support of which the red stands out brilliantly".
Unique in value in our old painting is the image of the Mother of God with the baby from the tympanum of the portal; still in the vestibule, the Last Judgment can be seen from the outside as well, illuminated by the arches. If the northern wall was mostly erased by the weather, the one from the south is a real treasure. The Akathist hymn (24 stanzas-scenes) occupies most of the surface, illustrated especially by the Glorification of Mary and the monumental composition Siege of Constantinople, a deliberate historical error carrying the specific anti-Ottoman message of the time; they are joined by the Blaze in Flames, the Akathist of Saint Nicholas and the Legend of the Prodigal Son. The apses of the church contain the Supper (Deisis), prayer of all the saints, unique only to the exterior painting from Bucovina, a large-scale fresco also considered an invocation to the defense of Moldova against the threat of the crescent. The facades present the well-known game of arches and windows, the stone frames are rectangular to the bipartite Gothic windows. The defense tower was erected by Vasile Lupu (1641). Restoration work continues. The Evangelist from Humor (1473) with the famous miniature of the ruler Stefan the Great (located in the museum of the Putna monastery) and the gilt on which the heads of bours are carved certify, among other things, the value of the cultural center that the monastery was from the very beginning. The church maintained its parish activities until August 1, 1991, when it regained its status as a monastery, the community being made up of nuns.
Source: www.crestinortodox.ro