Fragments of 17th Century Religious Embroidery Discovered During the Archaeological Researches at Secu Monastery, Romania

Secu Monastery, founded by the great Vornic Nestor Ureche in 1602, has treasured, over the centuries, not only the faith of the Romanians, but also material evidence of their existence in Moldavian lands. Most of the valuable cult objects − vestments, manuscripts, prints, metal objects − represent, nowadays, the heritage of Secu Monastery Museum. The archaeological researches carried out, between June 4-6, 2007 at Secu Monastery, on the occasion of the solemn proclamation of the canonization, on August 30 of Metropolitan Varlaam, brought to light, among other things, material, historical testimonies, in a fragmentary state, of textile art with a religious symbolism. The conservation-restoration works carried out, for these archaeological textile fragments, by the specialists of the Center for Research and Conservation-Restoration of Cultural Heritage within “Moldova” National Museum Complex of Iași, did not only aim at the physical-chemical and physical-mechanical stabilization of the materials components in order to preserve them over the centuries, but also to reveal some information related to the identification of the nature of the composing materials, the production technique and some decorative motifs with a religious symbolism.