The Ascension of the Lord Cathedral () is a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; ; German language, German: ''Neumarkt am Mieresch'') is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the list of cities and towns in Romania, 16th-largest city in Romania, with 116,033 ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It was built between 1925 and 1934 on the initiative of Archpriest Ștefan Rusu. As the seat of an

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

and not a bishop, it is a church and not technically a cathedral, but is commonly referred to as such. The Cathedral's cornerstone was laid on May 10, 1925, an event witnessed by, among others, the Minister of Religious Affairs,

Alexandru Lapedatu Alexandru I. Lapedatu (14 September 1876 – 30 August 1950) was Cults and Arts and State minister of Romania, President of the Senate of Romania, member of the Romanian Academy, its president and general secretary. Family Alexandru Lapedatu wa ...

, Bishop Nicolae Ivan, and

Octavian Goga Octavian Goga (; 1 April 1881 – 7 May 1938) was a Romanian far-right politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator. Biography Early life Octavian Goga was born on 1 April 1881 in the village of Rășinari, on the northern sl ...

, who was a government minister at the time. The cathedral was built according to the plans of architect Victor Vlad of the

Politehnica University of Timișoara Politehnica University of Timișoara (; abbreviated UPT) is a public university in Timișoara. Founded in 1920, it is one of the largest institute of technology, technical universities in Central and Eastern Europe. The 10 faculties of the univ ...

, in the form of a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

. The total cost of the building was estimated at 20 million lei. The

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

was built in 1934 by Traian Bobletec of Nazna, while the bells were cast at

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

. Due to lack of funding, murals of the interior were only completed in 1986. Image:Catedrala Mare Targu Mures 02.JPG, View from Roses' Square Image:Catedrala ortodoxaTM1.jpg, Interior

External links

*
Official site
Churches in Târgu Mureș Romanian Orthodox churches in Mureș County Churches completed in 1934 20th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings 1934 establishments in Romania Historic monuments in Mureș County {{Romania-EO-church-stub