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Year built: 1760
Location: Budeşti is situated in the valley of the Cosău River, 25 km south of Sighetu Marmaţiei, following DN 18 for 12 km and then DJ 109 F.
Summary: The church is rectangular in shape, as usual, with a unitary roof covering the whole building. The roof has double eaves all around. The pronaos was enlarged towards the west during the 19th century, which makes the building longer than most other churches. This also means that the tower is not at the west end, but much closer to the middle of the building.

The church of St. Nicoara seen from northwest. The tower is nearly in the middle of the building as the pronaos was enlarged during the 19th century.

Like so many other churches, also the church of St. Nicoară in Budeşti Susani was built on the place of a previous one.
All three were painted around 1550 by an artist that most probably originated from Moldavia. There are also several icons painted on glass, made in Transylvanian painting centres.
An inscription in a corner of the naos dates the building and painting of the church: “With God’s mercy and the Holy Ghost’s gift, and following the advice of Priest Ionaş, the church was painted by painter Alexandru Ponehalschi, and this holy church was built to praise God and redeem the Christian souls …Year 1760, November, the 10th day”.
The church is rectangular in shape, as usual, with a unitary roof covering the whole building. The roof has double eaves all around. The pronaos was enlarged towards the west during the 19th century, which makes the building longer than most other churches. This also means that the tower is not at the west end, but much closer to the middle of the building.

The Banishment from the Garden of Eden.

The original painting was applied on pieces of textile covered with a preparatory layer of limewash. The 19th century paintings were applied on a limewash layer that was spread directly on the wooden logs, and the scenes are not placed in the proper sequence. The original paintings have inscriptions in Slavonic language, while the newer ones have inscriptions in Romanian with Cyrillic letters.
There is no original painting remaining on the naos vault. On register I of the south wall are painted The Last Supper with a horseshoe shaped table in the Hellenistic tradition, The Prayer on the Mount of Olives, The Denial of Peter with a fortress on the background that reminds of Moldavian 15th and 16th century monasteries, The Trial in front of High Priests Annas and Caiaphas, The Mocking of Jesus, and The Crucifixion. On register II are The Crown of Thorn, The Flagellation, The Way of the Cross, and The Hanging of Judas. The other scenes are no longer legible.

The Way of the Cross. On the left is the Golgotha hill and in front of it stands St. Veronica holding the veil with which she wiped the sweat on Jesus’s face.

The iconostasis is topped with a scene of The Crucifixion. Below it are registers with The Holy Virgin flanked by The Apostles standing in twos holding scrolls in their hands The Great Feasts and the imperial icons.
On the imperial doors is written in Slavonic “These doors were bought by Mariş Vasile with his wife and sons who gave them şto the church] for the forgiveness of their sins. The year 1628”. On the iconostasis are also written the names of the painter Alexandru Ponehalschi and of the founders “Priest Ionaş with his wife Măricuţa and their sons Vasile and Toader and Grigore”.