Orheiul Vechi is the most remarkable site in Moldova, and one of the most photogenic in eastern Europe. The Raut river cuts a deep meander through limestone, and into the face of the cliff monks carved a church, cells and passages, entered through a narrow door high above the valley floor. From inside, small openings frame the river and the meadows below; on the plateau above stands a church whose bell tower is visible for kilometres. The wider landscape is an archaeological palimpsest, occupied and reoccupied since antiquity by successive peoples who left fortifications, settlements and burials in the same few square kilometres. The film alternates between the intimate scale of the rock-cut interior — candlelight, worn stone, the acoustics of a chapel inside a cliff — and sweeping aerial views of the gorge. Hermits, pilgrims and the villagers of the valley complete the human portrait. Filmed in 4K with extensive aerial coverage.
