Ciocănești Village and its Painted Houses

Ciocănești is the seat of the commune of the same name in Suceava County, in the historical region of Bukovina, at 854 m. The commune, made up of the villages of Ciocănești and Botoș, split from Iacobeni commune in 2002. According to the historian Ion Drăgușanul, the village was founded on 31 July 1775 by the boyar Ion Ciocan from Bistrița, around a hamlet previously called Fântâna Rece; a local legend links the name to the blacksmiths of Stephen the Great. The village is known for houses whose façades are painted with traditional geometric motifs taken from painted Easter eggs. The first house decorated this way was that of Leontina Țăran, in 1950, and in the 1960s the custom spread through the village as houses were replastered. Leontina Țăran's house is now a museum, with traditional costume from the Bistrița Valley and household objects. According to Radio Romania International, more than 600 houses in the village have walls decorated with traditional motifs. Ciocănești was declared a museum commune in 2004, and in 2014 it was named Romania's cultural village. In 2017 Lonely Planet included it in its list of the most colourful European destinations, in sixth place. The National Museum of Painted Eggs in Ciocănești holds more than 1,800 painted eggs between 40 and 100 years old and more than 2,800 eggs awarded prizes at the National Painted Egg Festival, held every year at Easter. Opposite it is the village museum, arranged as workshops illustrating the old trades of the inhabitants: blacksmithing, sheep farming, rafting, mining and woodworking.