Anastasis Review 04 Cristian Ungureanu BDT

THE GEOMETRIC MUSIC OF “THREE
HIERARCHS” CHURCH FROM IAŞI
Cristian Ungureanu
Abstract: In order to emphasize the links between science and art, we

analyse the “Three Hierarchs” Monastery church, Moldavian architecture
masterpiece of the 17th century, build by the Voivode Vasile Lupu. The
artistic project which reunited in a perfect harmony `quotes`of the
geometrical decorations belonging both to the Balcans Christian and the
Islamic culture, which were gathered harmoniously in a common body,
stable and unitary.The study of the consecutive structures of the “flowers
of the numbers” that build up the visual engines of the 61 rosettes carved
in stone, that highlight the sculpted decorations of Trei Ierarhi church, has
the aim to associated the geometric models with musical/vibrational
structures derived from these.
Keywords: Baroque, art, geometry, sculpture, scheme, composition,

symbol
The inscription of “Three Hierarchs” Church records that the sacred

place was consecrated on May 6,1639, but the vastness of historical sources
demonstrate that the church was far from being completed at that date. Due
to the lack of local skilled craftsmen, capable of carrying out the construction
work and, especially, the carved stones that would’ve had to dress the
exterior of the building entirely in a fascinating geometric and decorative
craftsmanship, Voivode Vasile Lupu asked the Boyard Andreiaş, “Mayor and
the county of the honourable citadel of Bistriţa”1, to send craftsmen builders
to work with limestone. From a different documentary2 source results that in
1642, the Romanian prince thanked Boyard Andreiaş for sending the
moulders, asking him to procure a tile craftsman as to teach the secrets of his
work to the local craftsmen. Also from the correspondence of the Princely
Chancellery of Vasile Lupu results that the ruling prince asked that the Tsar
Mihail Feodorovici from Moscow to send to study several local craftsmen to
specialize in carving sophisticated stone ornaments that were to cover the
facades of the church. Following further requests made by Vasile Lupu “the

PhD lecturer, Faculty of Visual Arts and Design, George Enescu University of Arts,
Iaşi, Romania, E-Mail: [email protected]
1
N.Iorga, Documente românești din arhivele Bistriței, vol I, p.62, apud Dan Bădărău,
Ioan Caproșu- ”Iașii vechilor zidiri”, ed. Junimea, Iași, 1974, p. 176.
2
Eudoxiu Hurmuzachi, Documente, vol XV, supl. 2, p.1072.
ANASTASIS. Research in Medieval Culture and Art Vol. II, Nr. 2/November 2015
Tsar sends to Iaşi two painters to paint the church, Sidor Pospeev and Iacov
Gavrilov. The latter died shortly in Iaşi and the Tsar replaced him with the
painters Deico Iakovliev and Pronka Nikitin; the Russian painters worked on
the “ThreeHierarchs” Church from February 1642 and finished painting it in
August of the same year”3.
Fig. 1
Vasile Lupu proved to be a strong and visionary character, in full

harmony with the spirit of the luxurious and exuberant era in which he lived,
succeeding to write a glorious page in the history of Moldova and, especially,
of the city of Iaşi. “What is distinctive in general for “the new men” of the
seventeenth century: the need for pomposity, entertainment, brightness, thirst
for prestige and grandeur reaches paroxysm during the reign, behavior and
deeds of Vasile Lupu (1634-1653), voivode who, according to Miron Costin,
“was too much for Moldova, as a man of high and imperial spirit more than
a Prince”4. Once anointed as Voivode of Moldova, Vasile Lupu has followed
his founder vocation and completed the Sfântul Ioan Botezătorul Church in
the Citadel of Suceava, building which was began during the reign of his
predecessor, Miron Barnovschi. Later, he built a number of churches of
smaller sizes and artistic value, such as Sf. Atanasie in Copou, St. Gheorge in
Şerbeşti, Bacău County, etc., constructions which bring no change in the
usual way of achieving churches in Moldova during his time. But the most
important architectural achievement of Vasile Lupu would remain the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church, a work of extreme originality for the time of its
construction, which he raised in the very center of Iaşi, to the delight of the
3
Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproșu, op.cit., p. 178.
4
Vasile Florea, Istoria artei românești, ed.Litera internațional, București, 2007, p.
224.
locals and contemporaries from everywhere, but, at the same time, the
generations that followed, until today.
A thing worth mentioning and which is clear from the numerous
remaining documents is that the Vasile Lupu directly involved in the
organization and well running of the work of all the constructions during his
reign, proving not only an unpredictable artistic sense but and a real vocation
of founder-builder. We are inclined to believe that it was the ruler who
oversaw and decided the architectural configuration and the jointing of the
sculptural elements that organize the decorative-geometric stone of the
facade, completely covering the building, bringing sparkle and originality to
the construction. Art historian Vasile Drăguț points out that the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church is a work of exceptional artistic value because of
the unique characteristics conferred by the carved ornamental decorations:
“What makes “ThreeHierarchs” an unique monument is the decoration of the
facades. Starting from the ornamental idea of the dome of Dragomirna
Church, the facades of “ThreeHierarchs” Church are entirely covered with
real carved lace.
From the base to the cornices, the facades are divided into several
registers, each with a different type of decoration, but overall uniform:
different types of interlaces and rosettes, zigzags and intertwines, chains of
links and vases with flowers, double twisted rope and strips of marble
engraved with Mascheroni, an entire universe of ornaments, mastered by
talented craftsmen who knew the rules of the geometrical science of
composition of Islamic art and, above all, an elaborate colouring with lapis
lazuli and a real waste of gold foil over the entire facade decoration conferred
an appearance of unparalleled wealth to the church founded by Vasile Lupu
that really one was able to tell about it “that makes the mind wonder”5.
Fig. 2 Fig. 3
5
Vasile Drăguț, Arta românească. Preistorie, Antichitate, Ev mediu, Renaștere,
Baroc, ed Meridiane, București, 1982, pp.352-353.
What must be remembered is the aspect of permanent conflict

between Vasile Lupu and Matei Basarab, ruler of Wallachia. VasileLupu,
after the death of his son John, which has to became the ruler of Moldavia,
reconciles with Matei Basarab in 1644, through the mediation of Varlaam,
the Metropolitan Bishop of Moldavia. In a sign of sealing the peace
established, the two princes builta monastery in eachother's country: Stelea -a
replica of “Three Hierarchs” Church built by Vasile Lupu in Târgovişte and
Soveja church, built by Matei Basarab in former Putna county. The logic of
stylistic differences between Three Hierarchs Church and other constructions
of Vasile Lupu remains unknown. We suppose that the appearance of Three
Hierarchs Church, with its unprecedented pomp, is a possible reply of the
vain Moldavian ruler in front of the brilliant edifice of Curtea de Argeş
church, founded by Prince Neagoe Basarab in 1517.
We believe that the unity of the decorative sculptures, in their visual
richness and diversity of origin, is due to a preliminary plan, carefully studied
and probably supported by Vasile Lupu himself, given the thoroughness with
which he pursued all phases of execution of the buildings he founded. A
novelty factor, in explaining the process of achieving this original artwork, is
that the Moldavian ruler was well aware of the power of the impact of the
overlapping geometric decorations specific to the Islamic and pre-Christian
art and architecture as the Greek mosaics from Zeugma- Turkey or the
ancient Jewish mosaics from Khirbet Beit Lei 6 (Israel), over a Moldavian
classic architectural structure. Cosmopolite personality and prone to
understand the laws of beauty, it is likely that Vasile Lupu has found and
appreciated the qualities of “vibration” and deeply “musical” of sophisticated
geometric arabesques which define the art in the East and Islamic peoples,
from India, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Syria until the distant south of
Spain.
Fig. 4 Fig. 5
6
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khirbet_Beit_Lei
It is very possible that Voivode, in fact the creator of the [plan]

concept for this stone “installation” may have premeditated, meticulously and
strategically, the details for the re-contextualization of different geometric
decorative elements, borrowed from a very wide area, coordinating their
unification in an amazing synthesis, competing (especially at the time when it
was “launched”) the most spectacular works of the Islamic art. It is also
possible that Vasile Lupu took into consideration the guaranteed success of
the integration of a Christian church ”dressed” in Islamic decoration,
understanding the doctrine unity - mathematics and symbolism, of the
geometric abstract art of the servants of Allah and of the one which lies at the
base of the Byzantine architecture and painting or folk art, as old as the
world, from the ceramics, clothes and carpets of the Moldavian peasants and
those from everywhere.
The same structure of the flower of life and of the tree of life, and
even the same configuration of the regular polygons and the orthogonal cross,
is noticeable everywhere. About the origin of the decorative motifs involved
in the project of the sculptures stone from the “ThreeHierarchs” Church,
Vasile Drăguț would note: “Previous researches have failed to identify the
origin of this or that motif, establishing an appropriate paternity, as Islamic,
Armenian, Georgian and so on, but one must notice that nowhere in the
world of the Middle East, from where most of the decorative elements of the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church originate, such an overall composition was
obtained and - very important fact –in the case of the monument in Iaşi, is
about subordinating the whole decoration to an architectural composition
which is traditional for Moldova “7.
Fig. 6 Fig. 7
The authors of the book “Iașul vechilor zidiri”, history researchers with high
academic training, state that “Vasile Lupu was interested of the buildings he
ordered, not only as a good supervisor, but he appreciated these as an artist,
7
Ibidem, p. 353.
knowing the value of the sculptors working in stone; and he was interested
about them everywhere in Moldova, seeing them on the spot.”8
As the result of an error stated in the travel memories of Paul of
Aleppo and transmitted by a number of researchers of the “Three Hierarchs”
history, it was considered that the author of the architectural plans of the
entire monastery has been the great chamberlain Enache, the court architect
of the Moldavian princes. But Enache died before 1636 and was buried at St.
Sava new church (whose founder he was, as mentioned by the above
mentioned historians9) and the Trei Ierarhi church was built between 1637
and 1642.
Even if the name of the architect who conceived the plans for the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church is not known, with a clearly classical Moldavian
architecture – it is evident the direct involvement of Vasile Lupu in the
detailed coordination of the work and the achievement of all construction
stages. The Moldavian ruler is likely to have wished that the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church to be his burial place, but his destiny was to die in
Tsarigrad (Constantinople), as a dethroned ruler.
Fig. 8
The architecture of the Trei Ierarhi church is one of the few models
of architectural and decorative configuration to shelter the relics of saints.
Vasile Lupu, improving the exceptional vividness of his building, brought the
relics of the Saint Paraschiva (in 1641) and placed them in a niche, at the
right side of the royal seat.
The monastery ensemble contained several buildings, including
monk cells elegantly constructed and finished, the dining room (trapeza) with
Gothic architecture, which would become the home of the Vasilian Academy,
during Gheorghe Asachi (early 19th century) and a space dedicated to the
8
Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproșu, op.cit., p. 179.
9
Ibidem.
printing press brought by Vasile Lupu from Kiev. All this building ensemble
was surrounded by a wall guarded by a bell tower - tower on which was
located an inscription - a beautiful emblem of Moldavia, containing the
classic heraldic data of the country: the bull head, the sun and the moon,
framed in an aggregate formed by four circles - “the Flower of the four”,
which, in turn, was included in a quadrilateral, having in the corners the
representation of the heraldic lions of the royal houses of Moldavia10.
Within the perimeter of the four circular structures there is an
inscription in Slavonic language, proving the paternity of the construction:
“The true believer and lover of Christ, I, the voivode Vasile, ruler of
Moldavia by the Grace of God, and his lady, Theodosia, and his beloved son,
voivode Ioan, began to build the bell tower in the year 7146 (1638), April
20”11.
To illustrate the impact that the foundation of Vasile Lupu produced
in his time, we felt welcome to include a consistent fragment from the
detailed and expressive description, equivalent to a television report of our
times, which was left to us by archdeacon Paul of Alep in 1653, a Syrian
prelate who accompanied the Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, in his travels
through the Romanian Countries: “The monastery is as beautiful as possible:
looks like a castle, being surrounded on all sides by stone walls. Above the
gate there is a tower for bells and for the city clock which is made of iron and
has big wheels. The bells are hung up on wooden beams. The clock engine
fills half of a room.
It has a rod of iron that enters through the roof and goes up to the top
of the great bell and on which is applied a heavy iron hammer. When it
comes the time to beat, a big piece of wood gets out the tower arch, having
springs, which triggers the small bells, which are also called alarms, to
announce the people to listen when they will beat the hours. This rod is
pulled down through the wheels: the hammer rises suddenly and falls on the
rhythm of the bell producing a sound that is heard throughout the city. The
church is in the middle of the monastery.
Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproșu, op.cit., p. 187

10
11
N. Grigoraș, „Inscripția turnului clopotniță al mănăstirii Trei Ierarhi din Iași”, în
Anuarul Institutului de istorie și arhelogie, Iași, I (1964).
Fig. 9 Fig. 10
As for the holy church, at the centre of the Monastery, it is entirely

made of chiselled stone and, on the outside, it is embellished with unmatched
mastery that surpasses all wisdom: there are no plane surfaces, only sculpted
ones. Above the cornice the church is surrounded by two stone girdles, also
carved. The church has two tall spires. The access is ensured through two
doors, one towards south and the other towards north, as is the custom of
their churches. Above each door there is a tall window with latticed
members, similar to the former ones. This is a crossed arch and on top of it
there is the face of the Trinity. Over the door that leads from the threshold to
the inside of the church there is the icon of the Last Judgment, more beautiful
that I saw in the church of Vaslui. The Turks are painted as their custom is,
with their turbans and their clothes. On the other walls (of the threshold)
there are human faces and images of all the creatures of the world, from man
to animal, wild beast, birds, trees and plants, all of them eye-catching
pictures. Then there are young men and girls and many people that thank the
Lord in His holiness with drums and psalms; then lords and judges according
to their ranks – all is made of gold and lazulite. After that, you enter the
church trough the west door and above it there is the icon of the Tree
Hierarchs. The door is carved all around with great mastery: through this
door you can get into the narthex; in this walls there are niches where there
are the Bey’s children’s tombs and those of his wife’s, the first lady. The
tombs are covered with a lot of silk and gold brocade carpets and above them
there are silver votive lights, that burn night and day and candleholders with
wax candles.
Here (in the narthex) there are four bared windows, two on each wall,
and the portrait of the Bey and of his wife, the dead Lady, mentioned above,
as she [died while he] was still alive; and the portraits of the three children,
dead one after another, in beautiful clothes, and on their tall fur hats there
was a sable stripe.
On the western wall, where the door is, there is the effigy of the
church, in the Bey’s hand, and on it the three hierarchs are painted; he
presents it to the Redeemer which blessed him and around him there are
apostles and angels. A chandelier hangs from the arch of the narthex, an
object gifted by the founder of the church. Here (in the narthex) there are a
lot of beautifully worked icons.
From there on you get into the choir between two big pillars,
chiselled in the shape of green pistachio trees, carved in green stone, through
which there are gold threads, from top to bottom. The Bey’s throne is behind
the first pillar, turned towards the east, as it is the custom, with stairs to the
throne and a canopy over it. The throne is covered with gold plates
wonderfully worked. Its interior is coated with red and the stairs and the floor
are covered with red cloth. There is a cross above the canopy, and above it
there is a magnificent gold rose.
On the right of the throne, on the south wall, there is a large arch with
beautifully carved white marble pillars. You climb white marble stairs and, in
the middle, there is a coffin padded with red both inside and outside, closed
with silver nails. It also has a wonderful silver lock, which they had opened
for us so we worshiped and we got the blessing from the new Bulgarian Saint
Paraschiva’s relics, which the Beyhad brought from Constantinople from the
patriarchal church, from the room of the saints, before which we had bowed,
as mentioned before. Saint Paraschiva too seems to be alive, covered in
carpets, silk and others like this. Above there are silver votive lights that burn
day and night. On the wall of the dome her work is painted, as well as her
death and how the Turks brought her all the way there (to Iaşi). The images
are impressive, as when the Bishops brought her there, a kapuğu-bašewas
also among them, to increase the greatness and the pride of the event. The
choir is exactly like that in the Church of the Lady (meaning Golia
Monastery). The entrance also has two arcades, one towards the south, the
other toward the north. The stalls are made of cypress and ebony wood,
from Tsarigrad, chiselled and carved; the bishops’ pews are at the front. In
each choir there is a pew embellished with ivory and ebony and others like
this, a delight for the watchers, covered with red cloth. The dome of the choir
is very tall. On the ceiling there is the image of the Redeemer, may He be
blessed !
Fig. 11 Fig. 12
The domes of this church are very tall and from them there hang a
large chandelier, long about four to six meters, gilded with silver – an awe-
inspiring sight. Inside it, there is a sort of pavilion and on the wall of each
choir there are latticed windows.
In front of the chancel doors there are four copper candle sticks,
different in their shape and aspect, then another two large ones made of
silver. The „Symbol” is made the same, the iconostasis is composed of four
ranges of icons, an unmatched thing. The icons of the Lord’s, of the Mother
of God, of the Three Hierarchs’ and of Saint Nicholas. Icons are equally
wonderful, casted in gold and silver.
The sanctuary is of extraordinary elegance and beauty: the arches of
the vault are different from one another and covered with gold and silver
plates; it has three windows with bars, and pillars at the front are also covered
in gold. On the cupola there is Mother of God’s icon. The icons inside the
sanctuary and on its walls are beyond count and they are worked in gold and
lazulite. In front of the entrance in the sanctuary there is a large silver votive
light.
Generally speaking, one can tell that neither in Moldavia, nor in
Romanian County, nor in the country of the Cossacks one can see a church
that could be compared to this, in terms of painting, architectural beauty.
May God keep it safe for evermore. Amen.
Above the refectory there is a stone vault. At a short distance from
the Monastery, near the baths, on the shore of the great lake, called pond or
fishery, there is the magnificent college built by the Bey.”12
12
Al. Lapedatu, André Lecomte de Nouÿ, op. cit., p. 39-43.
Fig. 13 Fig. 14
Witness to the echo generated by the finishing of the church in 1639,

but also in the following decades, both among the local people and Romanian
Christians from all over Romanian territories and of the people that were
passing through the animated city of Iasi, but also among the Mohammedan
Turks or of other Islamic countries, stand the memoirs of a Turkish pilgrim,
Evlia Celebi.The wonder and enchantment of the Ottoman traveller was
probably great when he encountered the Moldavian’s voivode’s artistic
project which reunited in a perfect harmony `quotes`of the geometrical
decorations belonging to the artistic culture of his religion, transposed on a
‘ghiaur`(Christian) place of worship, erected on a Christian monastery, two
steps away from the Princely Court of Moldavia: ”It can be described neither
in words, nor in writing. Recently built, the shiny marble stones glitter and
glimmer… as if they were the leaves on an illuminated parchment. On the
stones of the outside walls of this church – continues the Turkish traveller –
there are, as embellishments, figures and ornaments. Especially the flowery
models on a stone are so surrounded by ornaments carved with sun disks, line
braids, stone lace and ornate inscriptions, that the one that watches them is
amazed at the way in which the master sculptor carved the marble with his
chisel.”13
13
Răzvan Theodorescu, Piatra Trei Ierarhilor, Meridiane, Bucharest, 1979, p. 27.
Fig. 15 Fig. 16 Fig. 17
Between 1804-1806, the belfry endowed with a mechanical clock

and with four bells that announced the precise time to the entire city, was
restored by a team of Greek monks. In a document of that time they claim
that they have erected the tower from the corner stone and that they changed
the pyramidal roof – covered with tiles, with a tall roof, after the Ukrainian
baroque fashion, which make it even taller and more spectacular. In this
hypostasis, the tower resists until the 1886 restoration, when the team of
French restorers – which included the French expert architect Lecomte de
Noüy, decided to eliminate the tower from the architectural complex of the
monastery and to rebuild a series of buildings from the old monastery
assembly. From that time on a long series of polemics was launched
regarding these radical decisions, the details of which are not the object of
this study. When comparing the engravings made by J. Rey (1845) and the
photographs previous to Lecomte de Noüy’s restoration, I believe the result
consistently moves away from the original form (especially at the level of the
roof of the church and towers), but the new architectural vision, even if it
remains an invasion and a breaking of the fundamental rules of monument
restoration, which are imposed by law today, add additional stylistic unity to
the edifice.
Fig. 18 Fig. 19 Fig. 20

The stylistic resemblance between the Trei Ierarhi, Golia and

Dragomirna churches, can be noticed both at the level of the construction
formulas of the domes, as well as of the decorative elements. The thing that
distinguishes the decoration plans of “ThreeHierarchs” Church from the other
two churches is the complete covering with decorative structures of carved
stone on the surface of the frontages and the introduction of some elements of
a clear oriental inspiration, a fact unseen by then in Moldova. As opposed to
the church from Curtea de Argeş, where the decorations and arabesques are
even more capricious and opulent, influencing also the architectural structure
of the edifice, in “ThreeHierarchs” Church we can see a classic Moldavian
architecture, on the surface of which the master stone masons invited by lord
Vasile Lupu could freely and unconditionally expressed the intention to
embellish it, with the declared purpose to surprise the watcher trough the
luxuriant density of the registers with geometrical and floral decorations. All
the exegetes of this large decorative filed of the frontages and towers of
“ThreeHierarchs” – the most spectacular aspect of the edifice – expressed
similar opinions concerning the happy and unitary combination, as a general
result of some independent ”variations” on the same theme: horizontal string
courses /registers that follow one another from the bottom of the church to
the roofs of the two spires, use decorative elements from very remote areas,
cultures and ages, in space and time, which were gathered harmoniously in a
common body, stable and unitary. The risk of the endeavour that belongs as
intention to the lord Vasile Lupu, was certainly that of obtaining an artificial
and heterogeneous hybrid. The thing that gives unity to the whole is precisely
the predominantly linear and angular aspect of the motifs used and the
quantity of geometric information, with vibrant proprieties.
Fig. 21 Fig. 22
As far as the origin of the artist that coordinated the execution of the
stone decorations from “ThreeHierarchs” Church, the art historian Gheorghe
Macarie states that he was an oriental stone mason (Armenian, Persian)
invited by the lord Vasile Lupu together with the skilled carpenters that were
to complete the furniture pieces that were to decorate the interior of the
church. His task was, as the researcher and professor states, to accomplish the
pasteboards for the entire project (very likely with the guidance and approval
of the lord, as we previously supposed) and to coordinate the activity of the
Saxon masons among which is very likely that there also were local masons.
„There are clues that this artist coordinator of the decorative program of Trei
Ierarhi also knew the local decorative art – directly or through the
collaboration with his local helpers. If the brilliant painters that worked inside
of the church, the Russians Sidor Pospeev, Deiko Iacovlev, Pronka Nikitin,
Iacov Gavrilov were accompanied by the Iași painters Nicolae (”the old
painter”) and Ștefan from the capital of Moldavia, if the worship and secular
objects made of silver, from Orient or Occident, coexisted with others made
in the workshops of Iaşi, why not admit that among the Saxon stone masons
there were – as executants or simple helpers – a few local people. Or maybe
even Grigorie Cornescu, the very famous master in stone chiselling and
carving around 1672 was anticipated three decades earlier by another, local
too, that silently had his role in the conception and disposition of the
decorative repertoire. If this was the case, the Prince must have certainly used
him, and maybe some lords from the court.”14
Fig. 23 Fig. 24
We are inclined to believe the theory according to which the master

stone mason who conceived and coordinated the execution of the carved
stone works was well instructed and had the capacity to adapt to the difficult
architectural requirements of the edifice. Moreover, he managed to
accomplish the excellent task of synthesizing the motifs integrated by him,
picked from different spaces and cultures, together with local popular
geometrical motifs. It is well known that the latter category has a greater
homogeneity than those specific to religious art, the geometrical motifs on
the popular carpets or clothes from Romanian Countries are – in their formal
14
Gheorghe Macarie, Barocul – artă şi mentalitateîn Moldova epocii lui Vasile
Lupu, ed. Cronica, Iași, 2005, p. 140-141.
and symbolic essence – very similar or even identical to those from the
popular art of any other European country or even from the Far East. The
carpets with diamond-shaped solar motifs, with geometrically stylized birds
or with trees of life are omnipresent in the popular cultures everywhere. The
rosettes symbolizing the sun are always polygon flowers, among which the
most widely spread, not only in Europe or in Asia, but everywhere, is „the
flower of life” – the flower corresponding to number 6, the hexagon and the
star with six corners. This is the field of investigation which we believe that
can explain a series of revelatory aspects on the process of conception and
execution of the stone decorative project from “ThreeHierarchs” Church.
This way, the fluidity resulted from the collaboration between an oriental
stone mason and the Saxon and local ones could be explained. More than
that, it is most likely that during the execution of the project and of the
pasteboards corresponding to each register/string, the coordinating master
had a constant dialogue with all those involved in the execution of the entire
edifice, starting with the voivode himself.
Fig. 25 Fig. 26
The architect André Lecomte de Noüy, who was to study in detail the
qualities of the edifice in order to propose his restoration project to the
Romanian authorities, fully understood this essential artistic quality of the
decorations from “ThreeHierarchs”: ”Nowhere and in any other age one
cannot find such a generosity of ornaments, such a fantastic association
between the most varied styles, accomplishing such a harmonious whole.
Indeed, from the bottom of the edifice to its top, all the stone works, without
exception, is covered by various sculptures, executed after the byzantine-

oriental fashion, a true embroidery that wraps tightly the holy sanctuary.”15
This is the analysis perspective that we propose as a new reading key
over the artistic value (and not only) of this architectural masterpiece.
However, to understand and conduct an objective critical analysis on the
French artist’s restoration project, we found fit to expose the description that
he made of “ThreeHierarchs” Church, the text being published in 1904, in
Bucharest: ”The plan of “ThreeHierarchs” Church, at least as far as the outer
perimeter is concerned, does not present very particular dispositions, except
the upper part, the second stellar base of the two octagonal small towers. This
plan reproduces quite precisely one of the types adopted by Romanian
churches, with prominent absidioles, showing the arms of the cross, the
buttresses and the two dominant towers.
But the eye is first attracted to the rich ornamentation, of such a

special nature, an unforeseen mixture of various styles, be it of Byzantine
origin, as is the series of arched ceiling pillars covered in scales which border
flower vases, in the upper part of the church body; or the smaller arch pillars
– the latter motif being reproduced inside, sculpted on the black marble
friezes ; or very similar to the German Renaissance, as the two frieze
mentioned above, adorned with engravings ; or of oriental origin, as the
braids or wreaths that separate the friezes, a similar example being see in
Curtea-de-Argeş. This motif, that can be seen all over the interior of
“ThreeHierarchs” Church, was often used after that in many churches in the
country.
A fourth element that is very characteristic to this church deserves to
be mentioned: the gothic element.
Borrowed from the monuments of the Renan school, it is used here in
framings, the windows mouldings and the two entrance doors, South and
North, as well as the three main spaces that bring light to the exonarthex or
the covered entrance. These three ogival openings, separated by the stone
works that support the hemstitch-like tympanum, as well as the mouldings of
the entrance gates – are all treated in the German gothic style, still in used in
16th century.”16
15
Al. Lapedatu, André Lecomte de Noüy, op.cit., p. 52.
16
Ibidem, p. 52-53.
Fig. 27 Fig. 28
The historians from Iaşi, Dan Bădărău and Ioan Caproşu (similar to
many personalities of the history, architecture and arts from the period of the
last radical restoration or from recent times) consider that the French architect
André Lecomte de Noüy, despite a careful investigation and understanding of
the exceptional qualities of this edifice, he carried out a very invasive
restoration project, demonstrating, firstly, a serious misconduct regarding the
interior painting, and a free interpretation of the steeples and of the covering:
“Through this, the French architect has changed to a great extent the overall
appearance of the monument, giving it a supple silhouette, that favours him,
of course, but is a categorical and brutal betrayal of the original shapes”17.
Remarkably, in his approach, is that he did not change at all the embroidery
of the stone decoration that gives the unmistakable specificity and the
inestimable value of the monument. More seriously is the violation of the
basic rules of the recovery process of a historical monument, carried out by
the French architect when he broke down and after reconstructed – after his
own vision very different from the original one – the church of Sf Nicolae
Domnesc from Iaşi, founded by Ştefan cel Mare.
17
Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproșu, op.cit., p. 201
Fig. 29 Fig. 30
A vehement dispute aroused regarding the restorations made by

André Lecomte de Noüy, even in the time in which he started his first works.
The scientific researcher Elisabeta Negrău described the entire
phenomenon in a well documented articles, highlighting that “his solutions
for restoration have fluctuated from reconstructions and partial additions, to
tearing down and complete rebuilding. This measure was not encouraged in
France, but was experimentally used by the French on the Romanian
monuments” 18 .Following a protest campaign against such practices,
supported by historians and important artists of the time such as Grigore
Tocilescu and Theodor Aman, the restoration works attributed to the French
architect continued through the rubble and reconstruction were stopped.
According to the study presented by the emeritus professor architect Grigore
Ionescu in his treatise “Architecture in Romania over the centuries”, the
“ThreeHierarchs” Church’s plane has been adjusted after the plan of Galata
Church, to which it has been eliminated the burial chamber and the
exonarthex was narrowed, as with the Moldavian oldest churches. Regarding
the decorative elements, homogeneous related with the architectural
structure, both interior and exterior, it is considered that those are decorations
took from Dragomirna monastery church.
18
Elisabeta Negrău, Câteva probleme privind metodologia cercetărilor de artă
medievală şi deontologia conservării patrimoniului medieval în România,
(http://acs.org.ro/ro/conservare/249-deontologia-conservării).
Fig. 31 Fig. 32
The Romanian erudite architect also emphasizes the same unique

dominant feature of the value of “ThreeHierarchs”, namely the decorative
embroidery of stone, highlighting with distinctiveness the origin of the
motifs involved in the decorative ensemble: “Unitary as style, but different in
drawing from a layer to another, small ornaments, carved in flat relief
technique and of course at the same time, after placing stones in construction,
they are mostly geometric, of Georgian-Armenian origin. Others are of
Arabian-Ottoman origin and some - such as, in particular, those on the
marble plaque on which is shaping the median belt of the Western Baroque
façade. Highlighting by colouring it with lapis lazuli and polishing gold, this
original decoration, the work of stonemason craftsmen of Oriental
descending, connoisseur of decorative Caucasian arts, made this brilliant
monument, unique in his own way, to highly impress the locals, as all those
who at that time or later had the opportunity to see it. ”19
We believe that his theory regarding the building of the sculpture
directly on the edifice after installing the stones on the facade is questionable,
considering the major risks and the difficulty of such a process, especially
regarding the technical data of stone processing at the time. Moreover, it is
well known that in practice of stone processing for constructions in the West,
the carved plates or blocks or ornaments were executed mainly on ground
with great precision of marking the details for the joints (consequently,
eventually, to be trimmed after assembling).
19
Grigore Ionescu, Arhitectura pe teritoriul României de-a lungul veacurilor, Ed
Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, București, 1982, p. 336.
Fig. 33 Fig. 34
On the role played by Vasile Lupu in Moldova's history of the

seventeenth century and, especially, about the meaning and echo aroused
during those times regarding the building of the always surprising church of
“ThreeHierarchs” we mention the brilliant essay “Piatra Trei Ierarhilor” (The
Stones of “ThreeHierarchs”) conducted by the academician Răzvan
Theodorescu and illustrated by Ioan Oprea at highest level of photographic
art. In this book I found that idea, which I subsequently share, that the
choosing by the voivode of an integral covering of the church facades of a
Moldavian architectural style, consisting of geometric arabesques carved in
stone and covered with lapis lazuli and gold gilding, with motifs inspired
predominantly by the Islamic style, haven’t had only immediate aesthetic
reasons.It was also pursued a harmonization of the symbolic qualities of the
sacred geometry, explicitly present in the geometric and abstract art of the
Islamic world, but also in the Byzantine art and architecture and folk art
everywhere. For the purposes of the assertion of this thesis which I consider
essential for understanding of the “ThreeHierarchs” phenomenon, but also as
an introduction to the case studies that are subject of our investigation, we
present an excerpt from the book: “ThreeHierarchs” Church, never imitated
by posterity, was, of course, a singular experience that appears as an
extensive thought and relatively long elaborated unique art of its time, with
its volumes and impeccable surfaces - more moved towards the altar, more
still towards the porch.
Fig. 35 Fig. 36
With the plan being – beyond some “muntenisme” (reffering to the

Wallachian style), suggestions, common during those times, of the art from
the Wallachia –of an autochthon architectural tradition that descended in time
to those ages of the Musatini in which many voivodes of the 17thcentury
struggled to descend, with continuous vibration, almost dynamic –when you
look at it from certain angles -,of some luxurious paraments in which
anonymous carvers, with craft genius, have shaped – above and below a belt
in the torsade and of a strip of gray marble with carved masks and spindles,
in a full and deliberate contrast, stylistic and ethnic with the rest of the work
– tens and hundreds of block alternate – meticulously dug and with an almost
algebraic rigour of the Islamic decorations, highly cherished at that time, in
an increase barely felt, from the bottom to the top, from geometric to vegetal,
zigzags and braided lines, lines of intersected circles, accolades and vases of
flowers, shields and fruits, finally and again, numerous flowers with petals
variously placed, in an astonishing variation, geometrized as well until they
are exchanged with the “solar disks” as Evlia Celebi mentioned, in motifs
which once carved in stone, give the sensation of a folk ornament carved in
the wood of a gate or of a rustic seat from Moldavia, Oltenia or Transylvania,
when the same motifs does not become instantly the rosette or “propeller” of
our plastic folklore from all time.”20
All the great cultural and spiritual traditions of humanity have
highlighted the direct relationship between the structures of organization of
the natural environment and those that direct the embodiment and the
physical, psychological and spiritual evolution of the human being. Both the
substances and the attributes of the natural environment that are present in the
making of the human body and the processes of birth, growth, maturation and
death are subject to the same laws of cyclicity numerically arranged, laws
after which the seasons, historical periods, glacial cycles of the planet or the
cosmic, of the movements of galaxies and solar systems. These aspects of the
20
Răzvan Theodorescu, op.cit., p. 35-36.
creation of the natural world were a constant source of inspiration and

meditation for the artists from all the cultural ages.
A remarkable thing is that people of traditional civilizations have
developed and represented the beauties of the natural order in very precise
and efficient symbolic structures, often reduced to geometric configurations,
structures which are greatly found in the formations of the mineral, plant or
animal world. Not incidentally, the humanity since ancient times has gathered
with much attention and dedication these formations with elevated symbolic
loading and offered them a protective and justified artistic frame.
Contemplating the specific qualities of the natural environments, we see that
the mineral cannot imitate the complex phenomenon of plant growth, a tree
does not possess senses and the ability to move as the animal does - with
which it adapts to the environment; finally, the human world has the intellect,
of the Self and contains all the attributes of the other natural worlds. We can
speak, however, in the case of minerals, about a certain dynamism generated
by their own inner forces and energies, even if, in the first instance, they
presented to us as petrified forms. Like the specialists in modern physics, the
traditional cultures defined the existence of the world as an extensive web of
energetic structures with permanent vibrational qualities and functions.
Vibration is defined in the terms of modern sciences through the concept of
frequency. The frequency, in turn, is described through numbers. And the
numbers are subject to geometric projections and transpositions.Most often,
the processes of crystalline formation of the stone covers a long period of
time, making them invisible to the naked eye, and the degree of refinement
and purity of all forms of matter organization, from the coarsest to the most
elevated are interpreted by the ancient traditions of metaphysics as immutable
symbols of higher levels of Reality.
Fig..37 Fig. 38
What is important, in terms of the present analysis, is the aspect of

the organization of the polyhedral structures of crystals of various minerals,
regarded as the natural standard of all types of harmonic structures of
undifferentiated matter and the relationship of this phenomenon with the laws
of geometry that coordinates these embodiments and their artistic properties,
in relation, firstly, with the visual engines based on the “flowers of the
numbers”, theory that represents the core of the analysis of the composition
of traditional art works. The abstract and geometric art of the Islamic culture
represents the immediate expression of this reality and we consider that this
is the reason for the fascination it exerts on the viewer prone to
contemplation.
The study of the consecutive structures of the tree “flowers of the
numbers” that build up the visual engines of the 61 rosettes carved in stone,
that highlight the sculpted decorations of Trei Ierarhi church, has the aim to
associated the geometric models with musical/vibrational structures derived
from these.
All the great traditional cultures have designed numbers as
energetic “entities”, sometimes even personified, with attributes borrowed
from the register of human emotions, forces that permanently shape the
entire manifested world, visible but also invisible to our senses.The
impartiality and omnipresence of the action of the numbers is closely
correlated with the specific aspect of the algorithm of action of each of them,
with the internal and external “dynamics” that also conditions the capabilities
of each number to interact with other numbers.
Fig. 39 Fig. 40
The division on classes and value categories, depending on a variety of

criteria, was considered for millennia as one of the sacred sciences and the
aim brought to the use and assessment of the numbers, that of reducing to the
status of “figures”, needed only in the usual methods of customary
arithmetic or to generate sophisticated arithmetic constructions – a special
status that the modernity has instituted- could not only bring a great loss of
the sense of perception that only the careful contemplation of numbers can
bring.
The excessive reign of quantity eliminated the essential data of the first
numbers and consciousness, simple and immediate, that all numbers, no
matter how big they might become, are always reducible to their sources,
grouped consistently in the first nine numbers of the alphabet of
mathematics, and inclusively they are reduced, each according to its own
“music”/ vibration, to the same source represented and symbolized by the
number ONE21.
Fig. 41-44
Returning to the theoretical aspect of knowledge and use of

geometric composition, we can identify (as a source of the practice) a
21
Cristian Ungureanu, Musiqie des sphères. La géometrie secrète de la peinture
européenne, ed. Artes , Iași, 2016, p. 77.
long series of areas of traditional thinking, origins, most of them

impossible to locate. The most appropriate term of the source is that of
the traditional sciences, including sacred geometry which was just a
field among others which represented the sources of modern science.
One of the defining characteristics of traditional sciences was that they
related one to another without syncops and inconsistencies that exist
between their current equivalents. From this derives the profound
inspirational feature for the consciousness of the traditional artist, of
the sacred geometry applied as practical platform and - first of all -
conceptual organization of anatomy in an artwork.
Fig. 45-48
The artist was taught or asked to guess or to recognize the frequency

of the structure of numbers, seen as cosmic ordering forces both at the
structure of the mineral, vegetable and animal world as well as at that of the
movement of energetic fluids in nature, of the celestial bodies or its own

ages or internal emotions.
Fig. 49-52
The geometrical traditional and the mystical theories of the numbers

that were converted into geometric configurations, explained - directly or
symbolically - aspects of the cyclical growth rhythms of the living beings, of
the planetary motion but also of the consequences of all the systems visible
or invisible to our senses, the harmonic type report - as postulated by the
recently theory of the fractals, between the very small elements and the
macrocosmic ones of our level of Reality, principle valid also in the case of
the levels that are higher or lower to us. Communication between the
“worlds” was subject to the same rules of sacred geometry and it was
possible on the base of the affinity and harmonic resonance.
In terms of the logic of the principles of geometric composition
applied in architecture and traditional visual arts, we consider that the entire
assembly consisting of the church build by Vasile Lupu at the middle of the
17th century, represents a sum of decorative structures belonging to the
Islamic culture, impregnated with symbolic and aesthetic valences of the
universal sacred geometry, structures that were masterfully re-contextualised
and installed on the architectural structure of a classical Moldavian
church.Apart from the immediate aesthetic impact, the web of lines and
geometric shapes also represents an extensive vibratory structure designed to
induce the viewer a guaranteed effect of “orchestrated” musicality. The
circular nuclei of the 61 geometric flowers, placed equidistantly along the
entire perimeter of the four facades, at the level of optimal visual perception
of a person of average height, they are all centres that stimulate the
labyrinthine paths from the carved strips that succeed each other up to the
roof of the spires. The tripartite structure of each rosette hypothetically
generates a polyphonic and harmonic visual structure which is designed to
induce various reading routes through the “circuits” described by the
horizontal formations and overlaid, after an inspired scenery of geometrical
arabesques. The discs made of stone - universal symbols of the sun,
consisting of three categories of concentric “geometric flowers” and regular
polygons corresponding to the different numbers from 5 to 16, remember - in
equal measure- of the complexity of the carved rosettes on the walls of
mosques in Turkey, Syria and Egypt, the floral patterns on the carpets from
Buchara and Samarkand but, equally of the floral and geometric-abstract
elements present on the vestments and furniture of Moldavian and
Maramureş peasants or elsewhere in the Balkans.The research of the written
materials and archives of images that are offered by the libraries today and
the ocean of information that the Internet provides, shows that these symbolic
motifs and the processes of their construction are spread not only in Central
Europe, South-East or Middle East, but appear in the most remote and
unexpected places of the planet, which entitles us to say, like all the advised
and recognized researchers that guided us in our investigations of the sacred
symbolism, that the roots of the great folk traditions and religious of the
world have a common source.The complete analysis of the “visual engines”
and geometric patterns upon which the artist drew inspired when he designed
the drawings of the decorations from Trei Ierahi Church and the logic of their
distribution in the arabesques carpet made of stone that comprises the church
body in an impressive vibratory web, is one of the future objectives of my
doctoral study that is dedicated to the most important moments in the history
of several centuries of fine art in Iasi and Moldavia.
List of illustrations:
Fig. 1 The inscription (pisanie) of “ThreeHierarchs” Church, Iași (1639)
Fig. 2 și 3 “ThreeHierarchs” Monastery church in Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 4 Detail of carved stone decorations from “ThreeHierarchs” Church in Iaşi
(1639)
Fig. 5 Detail of carved stone decorations from Sultan Han Caravanserai, Turkey
(1229)
Fig. 6 Detail of carved stone decorations from “ThreeHierarchs” Church in Iaşi
(1639)
Fig. 7 Detail of carved stone decorations from Sari Han Caravanserai, Turkey (1249)
Fig. 8 Heraldic coat of arms of Moldavia from Trei Ierarhi Church in Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 9 Denis Auguste Marie Raffet- Landscape with Trei Ierarhi church in Iași – 1
(1837)
Fig. 10 The current church of Trei Ierarhi, Iași (2016)
Fig. 11 Iconostasis of Trei Ierahi church of Iaşi Fig. 12 Interior view of Trei Ierarhi
Church of Iaşi
Fig. 13 Denis Auguste Marie Raffet- Landscape with “ThreeHierarchs” monastery of
Iaşi – 2 (1837)
Fig. 14 Photography from the end of the XIX century of “ThreeHierarchs” Church in
Iaşi
Fig. 15 Details of the outer decoration – “ThreeHierarchs” Church of Iași – 2 (1639)
Fig. 16 Cross carved in stone, Goshavank monastery, Armenia (12thcentury)
Fig. 17 Door with cross carved in wood, Karaped church of Novarank, Armenia
(13th century)
Fig. 18 The church of Dragomirna monastery, county of Suceava (1609)
Fig. 19 The church of Golia monastery, Iași (17th century)
Fig. 20 Trei Ierarhi Church, Iași (1639)
Fig. 21 Trei Ierarhi Church, Iaşi – detail (1639)
Fig. 22 Dayro d-Mor Gabriel Monastery, Midyat, Turkey
Fig. 23 Detaliu - biserica Trei Ierarhi din Iași (1639)
Fig. 24 Detaliu - caravanseraiul Sari Han, Turcia (1249)
Fig. 25 Detail –Trei Ierarhi Church of Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 26 Ceiling detail – Palacio de la Aljafería–The Throne Hall (1118)
Fig. 27 Detail – Trei Ierarhi church, Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 28 Detail –Cathedral from Traunstein, Germany (890)
Fig. 29 Denis Auguste Marie Raffet- Landscape with the “ThreeHierarchs”
monastery from Iaşi (1845)
Fig. 30 Detail- the current restoration of the “Trei Ierahi” church (1639)
Fig. 31 Detail- Trei Ierarhi church from Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 32 Detail –Nikortsminda church, Georgia (1014)
Fig. 33 Detail- Trei Ierarhi Church from Iaşi (1639)
Fig. 34 Detail –Sf . James cathedral, Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem (XIIth century)
Fig. 35 Detail - Trei Ierarhi church from Iaşi –(1639)
Fig. 36 Detail – traditional costumes with geometric motifs (Muscel region)
Fig..37 Floral harmonic structures of Cymatics, the science that generates specific
forms for different frequencies of sound
Fig. 38 Roman mosaic from the first century BC
Fig. 39 Roman mosaic, first century BC.
Fig. 40 Drawing of a geometric flowers made by Albrecht Dürer (1525)
Fig. 41-44 Stone rosettes from ”Trei Ierarhi” church (1639)
Bibliography :
Bartos, Jeno, Compoziţia în pictură, Ed. Polirom, Iaşi, 2009.
Bădărău, Dan, Caproșu, Ioan, Iașii vechilor zidiri, Ed. Junimea, Iași, 1974.
Bouleau, Charles, Geometria secretă a pictorilor, Ed. Meridiane, Bucureşti, 1985.
Drăguț, Vasile, Arta românească. Preistorie, Antichitate, Ev mediu, Renaștere,
Baroc, Ed. Meridiane, București, 1982.
Florea, Vasile, Istoria artei românești, Ed. Litera internațional, București, 2007.
Iorga, Nicolae, Documente românești din arhivele Bistriței, vol. I.
Ghyka, Matila, Filosofia și mistica numărului, Editura Univers enciclopedic,
București, 1998.
Grigoraș, N., „Inscripția turnului clopotniță al mănăstirii Trei Ierarhi din Iași”, în
Anuarul Institutului de istorie și arheologie, Iași, I (1964).
Hurmuzachi, Eudoxiu de, Documente, vol. XV, supl. 2.
Ionescu, Grigore, Arhitectura pe teritoriul României de-a lungul veacurilor, Ed.
Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, București, 1982.
Lapedatu, Al., Lecomte de Noüy, André, Câteva cuvinte asupra bisericilor Sf.
Nicolae-Domnesc și Trei-Ierarhi din Iași, Administrațiunea „Casei Bisericii”,
Institutul de Arte Grafice „Carol Gbl”, București, 1904.
Macarie, Gheorghe, Barocul. Artă și mentalități în Moldova epocii lui Vasile Lupu,
Ed. Cronica, Iași, 2005.
Negrău, Elisabeta, Câteva probleme privind metodologia cercetărilor de artă
medievală şi deontologia conservării patrimoniului medieval în România,
http://acs.org.ro/ro/conservare/249-deontologia-conservării.
de Saint-Martin, Louis Claude, Despre numere, Ed. Herald, București, 2013.
Sinigalia, Tereza, Programul de protecţie şi gestiune a monumentelor înscrise pe
Lista Patrimoniului Mondial, în Monumentul. Tradiţie şi viitor. vol. 5, Iaşi, 2005.
Theodorescu, Răzvan, Piatra Trei Ierarhilor, Ed. Meridiane, București, 1979.
Ungureanu, Cristian, Musique des sphères [La géometrie secrete de la peinture
européenne], Ed. Artes, Iași, 2016.

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THE GEOMETRIC MUSIC OF “THREE

HIERARCHS” CHURCH FROM IAŞI

Abstract: In order to emphasize the links between science and art, we

Keywords: Baroque, art, geometry, sculpture, scheme, composition,

The inscription of “Three Hierarchs” Church records that the sacred

Vasile Lupu proved to be a strong and visionary character, in full

What must be remembered is the aspect of permanent conflict

It is very possible that Voivode, in fact the creator of the [plan]

Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproșu, op.cit., p. 187

As for the holy church, at the centre of the Monastery, it is entirely

Witness to the echo generated by the finishing of the church in 1639,

Fig. 15 Fig. 16 Fig. 17

Between 1804-1806, the belfry endowed with a mechanical clock

Fig. 18 Fig. 19 Fig. 20

The stylistic resemblance between the Trei Ierarhi, Golia and

We are inclined to believe the theory according to which the master

exception, is covered by various sculptures, executed after the byzantine-

But the eye is first attracted to the rich ornamentation, of such a

A vehement dispute aroused regarding the restorations made by

The Romanian erudite architect also emphasizes the same unique

On the role played by Vasile Lupu in Moldova's history of the

With the plan being – beyond some “muntenisme” (reffering to the

creation of the natural world were a constant source of inspiration and

What is important, in terms of the present analysis, is the aspect of

The division on classes and value categories, depending on a variety of

Returning to the theoretical aspect of knowledge and use of

long series of areas of traditional thinking, origins, most of them

The artist was taught or asked to guess or to recognize the frequency

movement of energetic fluids in nature, of the celestial bodies or its own

The geometrical traditional and the mystical theories of the numbers

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