Gura Humorului

Gura Humorului — "mouth of the Humor" — grew where the Humor river runs into the Moldova, below the monasteries founded by Moldavian princes in the valleys around it: Voroneț in 1488 and Humor in 1530. From 1774 the area belonged to the Habsburg monarchy as part of Bukovina, a sparsely settled province whose rulers paid colonists to move in. Germans, many of them from the Bohemian Forest, Poles, Ukrainians, Hungarians and Romanians settled here, and Jews were allowed to live in the town from 1835. By 1869 they formed about a third of its population.

A fire on 11 May 1899 destroyed most of the town, more than 400 houses, and it was rebuilt with donations from Jewish communities in America. Gura Humorului was declared a town in 1904. During the First World War Bukovina was a battlefield between Austria and Russian and Romanian troops, and in 1919 the province passed to Romania.

On 10 October 1941 almost the entire Jewish community, about 2,900 people, was deported to Transnistria, where many died; around 1,500 were allowed to return in 1944, and most of the survivors left for Israel between 1947 and 1951. The town was sought after as a climatic resort from the late 19th century, and in 2005 it was declared a tourist resort of national interest, followed by a European Union-funded programme that built a ski slope, a sports complex and leisure facilities in the park.

The town's culture is bound up with the painted monasteries at its edge. Voroneț, now within the town's own limits, draws visitors for its blue frescoes and its depiction of Heaven and Hell, and Humor, in the neighbouring village, is another of the UNESCO-listed churches of Moldavia. Both are working Orthodox communities rather than museums.

The Habsburg past shows in the town's other places of worship. The Roman Catholic Holy Trinity church of 1811 is considered the oldest Catholic church still in use in Bukovina; the church of Saints Constantine and Helen, built in 1862, has been Armenian, Lutheran and, since the Second World War, Orthodox; and the Great Synagogue of 1871 and the Jewish cemetery north of the centre recall a community whose languages were Yiddish, German and Romanian.

Folk crafts survive in the villages around the town, among them Easter eggs painted with traditional patterns in hot wax, and the monasteries keep the rhythm of the Orthodox year, with Easter its greatest feast.

Gura Humorului had about 13,300 people at the 2021 census, down from around 17,000 in the early 1990s. It is the seventh-largest urban settlement in Suceava County, and its population is overwhelmingly Romanian, with small Roma, German, Polish and Ukrainian minorities.

Tourism is the main business. Hotels, guesthouses and restaurants in the town, in Voroneț and in neighbouring Mănăstirea Humorului serve visitors to the monasteries, and some guesthouses also provide meals and arrange trips. Since the town became a resort in 2005, investment has added the Șoimul ski slope, an indoor pool and an artificial ice rink at the Ariniș leisure area, and a sports complex beside the dendrological park.

The town sits on the DN17 road and the railway between Suceava and Vatra Dornei, with the bus and train stations beside the centre, and the town of Frasin is only 7 km away. A campsite for caravans lies on the right bank of the Moldova near the ski slope. Life follows the seasons, with the monasteries busiest from spring to autumn and the ski slope in use in winter.

Gura Humorului eats the food of Bukovina and Moldavia: hearty, home-cooked and built around pork, mămăligă and sour soups. Ciorbă, soured with borș from fermented bran, vinegar or sauerkraut juice, comes in many forms, including a wild mushroom ciorbă. Sarmale, cabbage or vine leaves rolled around minced meat and rice, and tochitură, pork cut into small cubes and cooked slowly in its own fat and juices, often with smoked sausage, and served with mămăligă, are standard at family meals and in guesthouse kitchens.

Mămăligă, the maize porridge, is also served as bulz, baked in the oven with cheese and butter, or with cheese and smântână, sour cream. The forests supply mushrooms for tocană, a stew with tomato, garlic and sweet paprika that can be made with mushrooms. Moldavian sweets include poale-n brâu, soft cakes filled with sweetened cheese, and the Easter bread is pască, which in Romania is usually made with cottage cheese or cream, eggs, sugar and raisins.

Țuică, plum brandy, is the everyday spirit. Many guesthouses serve meals to those staying with them, and in the centre the restaurants around the main square, among them Restaurantul Moldova, serve traditional Romanian dishes.