An extremely important role was featured to the architecture of wooden churches in the medieval Moldovan art. More accessible than stone and easier handled building material, the wood used to be the principal material for the construction of rural churches along the centuries. Among those 775 of churches mentioned by Stefan Ciobanu on pages of the "Yearbook of Historic Monuments Commission" ("Basarabia section") (1924), found by Russian authorities in Basarabia after 1812, only 40 of them were stone-made, one church was laid in brick and the rest were built of wood. Longing for the replacement of these churches by richer stone foundations, which was so obvious in the XIXth century, frequent conflagrations, damages and carelessness or malevolence of Soviet authorities, bereaved us at 99 % of such patrimony. Still, the most interesting and the most authentic icon painting - a painting of Byzantine or naive popular traditions, untouched by the leveling spirit of the naturalist academism and realism, typical of the XIX -XXth centuries, was preserved in these wooden churches, dating back to the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries.
The architecture of wooden churches in Basarabia reminds a lot of the architecture of usual peasants' houses, the distinctions frequently summing up to the crosses located on the roof tops, belfry and six-edged apse, facing to east, which cannot be found at laic edifices.
The greatest part of shingle roofs of wooden churches was rounded and had a four waters sink. Timber belfries, located at certain distance from dwellings or erected above the porch, are also quite specific. Inside, wood churches are quite similar with the stone ones, disposing spaces for the altar, nave and narthex. Sometimes the narthex was preceded by the closed or opened exonarthex, usually facing to south.
Currently, only 30 wooden churches are preserved in the Republic of Moldova, as opposed to the 700, which used to exist before 1812. It should be noted that even these thirty are on the verge of disappearance.
One of the oldest wooden churches of Basarabia is deemed to be the "Saint Archangels" Church in Petruseni, constructed in 1702. The aforementioned church is an eloquent sample of a popular-stamped cult architecture, where rural craftsmen faithfully followed the traditions of old medieval wood architecture.
Another example typical of rural architecture represents the wooden church in the village of Tarnova. Use of veranda with timber pillars brings this monument even nearer to the aesthetics of peasants' houses architecture.
Common characteristics with the above-stated monument may be found at wooden churches in the villages of Hiliuti (Rascani), Pererata (1771), Hoginesti and many others. The continuity of local traditions in terms of wood processing may be felt in the architecture of churches in the villages of Horodiste (1797), Palanca (at the border of the XVIII-XIXth centuries) and Vorniceni (1839). The Vorniceni church is interesting due to the fact that it was erected on a stone "socle", as well as due to its plastered walls and a huge octagonal wooden belfry, towered above the narthex.
During the second half of the XIXth century essential changes take place in the evolution of wooden churches in Basarabia. In comparison to the previous epochs, wooden constructions dating back to that period are powerfully influenced by the architecture of stone dwellings. A characteristic example in this respect is the Larga church with The Saint Trinity Temple (Judets of Edinet), erected in 1897. Monumental and spacious, with rich adornments, a three-storied steeple merged to the narthex, with imitations of "zacomare", specific to medieval stone Russian architecture, where the principal turret is located on the octagonal tambour, this church has almost nothing in common with the traditional architecture of wooden churches of Basarabia from the stylistic point of view. It is more typical of the "eclectic style", which was so popular at the verge of the XIX and XXth centuries. This "eclecticism", enunciated in the architecture of Larga church, certifies the final epoch in the development of architecture of wooden dwellings on the territory of Basarabia.
