Kretzulescu Church ( or ''Crețulescu'') is an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in central

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

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 ...

. Built in the Brâncovenesc style, it is located on

Calea Victoriei Calea Victoriei (''Victory Avenue'') is a major avenue in central Bucharest. Situated in Sector 1, and having a length of , it leads from (which runs parallel to the Dâmbovița River) to the north and then northwest up to Piața Victoriei, w ...

, nr. 45A, at one of the corners of Revolution Square, next to the former

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

. The church was commissioned in 1720–1722 by the

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

Iordache Crețulescu and his wife Safta, a daughter of prince

Constantin Brâncoveanu Constantin Brâncoveanu (; 1654 – August 15, 1714) was List of Wallachian rulers, Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714. Biography Ascension Constantin Brâncoveanu was the son of Pope Brâncoveanu (Matthew) and his wife, Stanca Can ...

. Originally, the exterior was painted, but since the restoration work done in 1935–1936 (under the supervision of architect ), the

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

is made of

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

. The

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es on the porch date from the original structure, while the interior frescoes were painted by

Gheorghe Tattarescu Gheorghe Tattarescu (; October 1818 – October 24, 1894) was a Moldavian, later Romanian painter and a pioneer of neoclassicism in his country's modern painting. Biography Early life and studies Tattarescu was born in Focşani in 1818. ...

in 1859–1860. The church, damaged during the

1940 Vrancea earthquake The 1940 Vrancea earthquake, also known as the 1940 Bucharest earthquake, () occurred on Sunday, 10 November 1940, in Romania, at 03:39 (local time), when the majority of the population was at home. The 1940 earthquake registered a magnitude of ...

, was repaired in 1942–1943. In the early days of the

communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

, Kretzulescu Church was slated for demolition, but was saved due to efforts of architects such as Henriette Delavrancea-Gibory. More renovations took place after the Bucharest earthquake of 1977 and the Revolution of 1989. To the side of the church now stands a memorial bust of

Corneliu Coposu Corneliu (Cornel) Coposu () (20 May 1914 – 11 November 1995) was a Christian Democratic and liberal conservative Romanian politician, the founder of the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party (), the founder of the Romanian Democratic ...

Gallery

Image:Biserica Adormirea Maicii Domnului - Krețulescu, municipiul București.JPG, File:Iglesia Kretzulescu, Bucarest, Rumanía, 2016-05-29, DD 70.jpg, Image:Porch fresco, Kretzulescu church, Sector 1, Bucharest, Romania - panoramio (50).jpg, Image:Biserica Creţulescu - interior.jpg, Image:Kretzulescu Church - Corneliu Coposu Bust.jpg,

External links

"Places to visit in Bucharest – Crețulescu Church"
Romanian Orthodox churches in Bucharest Churches completed in 1722 Historic monuments in Bucharest Calea Victoriei 1722 establishments in the Ottoman Empire {{Romania-EO-church-stub

See also

Gallery

External links