Museum

The sanctuary, so masterly built holds treasures worthy of its beauty and greatness. The most intersant aspect of all is that behind these treasures, once again we find the work of the pundit and artist, the Great Bishop, who knew how to create a piece of art due to his coworkers and his great taste.

From all the riches oferred by Crimca and other rulers remain very few, because at only a few years after it was finished, in the spring of 1653, the Monastery was robbed by the Cossacks, ruled by Timiuş Hmelniţki. Miron Costin writes in his book about the sad event Dragomirna Monastery had to go through: “Timus, just after arriving in the town of Suceava, started to plunder and robb. Drogomirna was the first Monastery they attacked. They stole the precious artifacts and burned the priests’ clothes. They acted like savages and heretics.” Part of the artifacts stolen by the Cossacks was bought with large sums of money. There are many documents that speak of this. Others have been sent back later, and others remain in unknown locations.

According to an inscription on the porch wall, on the 2nd of October 1758, the Monastery had been robbed by Tatars.

Under Austrian command, after 1775, the Monastery lost its architectural adornement and thefuniture from inside the church. Uncountable artifacts, manuscripts, embroideries, silver-work, icons give the visitor a hint of the cultural and artistical life led inside this Monastery. They are kept within a collection of great historical and artistical value inside the Gothic Chamber.

There are several artifacts dating back from before Dragmorina Monastery was built that distinguish through their great value: a cerement for the Holy Goblet, offered to the Voroneţ Monastery by the Great Bishop Grigorie Roşca in 1559, the Gospel from 1557 and the wooden cross, beautifully carved from 1542. But the most valuable possessions are some manuscripts from the Caligraphy and Miniature School Dragomirna.

But the artistical treasury from Dragomirna reveals certain areas inside the artistical domain, such as embroidery and the art of transforming pretious metals. Some of the objects were donated to the Monastery by Crimca, the epitaphs from 1612 and 1626, which outstand through their refined structure, sewed with gold and silver thread on the warm backround of the bordeaux and green velvet. The epitaph from 1612 represents Jesus’ Burial and the ome from 1626 represents Virgin Mary’s Dormition. Grigore Moisiu is the one to have carved them into silver. Their concinnity consists of the unique and innovating technic, the beauty of the ornaments the the art of transforming the metals. A beautiful artifact made out of silver and carved into wood, almost a miniature is the cross offered by Anastasie Crimca in 1624. another historical artifact is the epitaph bearing the same illustration (Jesus’s Burial), embroidery with golden and silver thread on a silk backround and which was offered by the Great Bishop Varlaam of Rostov to the Great Bishop Anastasie Crimca. This epitaph had been hand-made in Russia in 1588, the embroidery being priceless through its age and delicate workmanship.

The Exhibition in the Gothic Chamber of the Museum contains:

a copy of the “Cazania”, by Varlaam, printed in 1643 in Iaşi, the first book written in Romanian, in Moldavia, using the Cyrilic alphabet.
Two epitraphies form the 17th century, representing one of them angels and seraphs, and the other Saint Hierarchs.
a candle made of painted wax, hand-made by the founder, lit during the religious service of dedicating a church.
A Crystal candelabrum offered by the Empress Catherine II of Russia.
Some crosses of smaller dimensions belonging to several abbots of the Monastery.
Artifacts from the 18th century: chalices, strar, disc and a “litier” (bowl).

From the old furniture belonging to Dragomirna remain only two lecterns.