Page:Nicolae Iorga - My American lectures.djvu/144

 concealed from the worshippers by a high carved wooden screen; the colours used for the somewhat severe pictures were restricted to dark blue and shades of violet. Nevertheless, the arches of the lesser door, of the main ogive, of the imposing windows of the façade and of the minor ones of in lateral walls, were all formed of Gothic like intersections and broken arches.

This was not sufficient for the acclimatization of the Byzantine forms in this country, whose interests were in great part directed towards the west. The Moldavian nature demanded its due.

Her Russian winters, abundant in snow, require a special roof, both high and of deep pitch: and the result is a complete transformation of the roof-line, which has come to be an element of characteristic beauty. In the spring the fields and glades in the centuries-old forests are covered with a smiling world of flowers of all kinds and of vivid hues, recalling a Botticellian landscape. This has had a direct influence on the style of decorations, hence the bewildering opposition of reds, blues and greys in the mural paintings and frescoes which at once ravish and impress the observant eye. The torrential rains of the province too urged the need of strong foundations and this need of strength has resulted in the horizontal broad outer continuation of the walls, the prispa, which the peasants use and foregather in through the long clear summer nights.

All this determined sweeping changes, interesting innovations of diverse origin in the traditional art borrowed from Byzantium and subjected to the usage of the Transylvanian craftsmen.

The foundation of the Moldavian churches was made of grey stone. Brick was employed for the greater part