Sucevita monastery, situated in a beautiful green valley, was founded in 1582 by the Movila brothers. Surrounded by high walls and defence towers, the monastery is famous for its "Stairway of Virtue", a fresco depicting the stairway to heaven.
Legend has it that an old woman worked on the monastery for thirty years, using her ox wagon to carry stones for the construction. It is for this reason that a woman's head is carved in the monastery's yard.
Thousands of pictures decorate the walls of the church, outnumbering the pictures at any of the other monasteries. However, the western wall is blank. According to legend, the artist fell off the scaffolding and was killed, so the wall remained undecorated.
