Nuge in Romania: TRICONCH

When I wrote an intro-level, general paper last year about medieval ecclesiastical architecture in Romania, I found I had a very difficult time finding much information about the Moldavian style of church architecture. It is a distinctive style of architecture, somewhat Byzantine, but far from the typical Greek Orthodox structures which precede or are contemporary to this type. I would say Putna monastery's church epitomizes this type, repeated dozens of times in a century of Moldavia's late 15th to early 17th century.

One thread of my investigation involves looking for precedents for the tri-conch apse- the cross in a square plan is typical of Byzantine churches, but I don't think I've ever come across the trefoil shaped apses that are exposed around the exterior like these are.

While searching, I found the earliest existence of the triconch apse plan in Moldavia, Wallachia, and even Transylvania.

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First is the Gurasada church in Transylvania, in an area known as Hatzeg, which is quite famous for its early stone churches (including Densus, thought to have been built on a Dacian or Roman religious site). This was built initially in 1292 C.E. (the white nave and tower were added about a century or so later). This is a rather Romanesque type, I suppose, and the form it takes here is the result of a clover-shaped building being built upon with an elongating nave in two further phases of construction. This church is a far cry from the rather more elegant Moldavian churches, but I found it to be an interesting potential inspiration for later Romanian church architecture.

Next we have the 1354 C.E. church of Sf. Treime, the first tri-conch apse in Moldavia. As you can see, there is a definite aesthetic link between this predecessor and the churches to follow in Moldavia. Incidentally, this church was founded not by Stefan cel Mare, but by Petru Musat. I have to say I really have developed a love of this type of architecture- there's something about the proportions- very high and narrow, and then the rounded roof around the apses... perhaps a personal taste, since in many ways, you can't compare these churches to Western European cathedrals or more impressive, true Byzantine architecture...

Here is the more impressive structure of Cozia monastery, built in 1388 by Mircea the Old, in Wallachia. Again, a tri-conch apse, but in the tower and other elements, there's a bit of a Serbian flavor to the design.

From these two early, nearly contemporary structures, Moldavian and Wallachian architecture start to diverge as they develop their individual styles.