The Silver Knife Church () 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 ...

church located at 1 Cuțitul de Argint Street in

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 ...

. It is dedicated to the

Feast of the Transfiguration The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated by various Christian communities in honor of the transfiguration of Jesus. The origins of the feast are less than certain and may have derived from the dedication of three basilicas on Mount Tabor.' ...

. The church is located on Filaret Hill, adjacent to

Carol Park Carol I Park () is a public park in Bucharest, Romania, named after King Carol I of Romania. A French garden located in the southern-central area of Bucharest, partly on Filaret Hill, originally capable of hosting various exhibitions, it suffer ...

. It is also known as ''New Bărbătescu'', as the area used to form part of ''Old Bărbătescu'' parish. A small church without a dome used to stand on the same site. This was built in 1796 and existed as late as 1897.Stoica and Ionescu-Ghinea, p. 124 The present church was built in 1906–1910, for the jubilee marking 40 years on the throne for

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Carol I Carol I or Charles I of Romania (born Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; 20 April 1839 – ), was the monarch of Romania from 1866 to his death in 1914, ruling as Prince (''Domnitor'') from 1866 to 1881, and as ...

. It was inspired by

Saint Nicholas Princely Church Saint Nicholas Princely Church () is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 65 Anastasie Panu Street in Iași, Romania. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas. Origins According to chronicler Grigore Ureche, the church was established by Stephen the G ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, itself built to commemorate 40 years of

Stephen the Great Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great (; ; died 2 July 1504), was List of rulers of Moldavia, Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II of Moldavia, Bogdan II, who was murdered in ...

’s reign.

Nicolae Ghica-Budești Nicolae Ghica-Budești (December 22, 1869 – December 16, 1943) was an influential Romanian architect who helped define the Neo-Romanian style. He studied ancient monuments in Wallachia, writing four volumes documenting the architectural history ...

was the architect, while Costin Petrescu painted the interior in 1908–1910. The paintings were cleaned and 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 gilt in 1926; further repairs were carried out in 1949. A choir gallery was added in 1919. The wooden iconostasis sculpted with floral designs has icons painted by Petrescu in 1907. Thorough repairs were carried out in 1992–1995, when the interior and part of the exterior frescoes were repainted. The church is

triconch A tetraconch, from the Greek for "four shells", is a building, usually a church or other religious building, with four apses, one in each direction, usually of equal size. The basic ground plan of the building is therefore a Greek cross. They are ...

in form, with walls up to thick. Adhering to the

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

n style of church architecture, its dimensions are . A large stone cross was placed on the right side of the church in 1906. This dates to 1677, to the reign of

Antonie Ruset Antonie Ruset or Antonie Rosetti (c. 1615 – 1685) ruled from November 10, 1675 to November 1678 in the Principality of Moldova. Life He came from an ancient family of Greek origin. Ruset ordered on March 29, 1677, the relocation of the seat o ...

. It is ornamented and inscribed in

Romanian Cyrillic The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet is the Cyrillic alphabet that was used to write the Romanian language and Church Slavonic until the 1830s, when it began to be gradually replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet.Cyrillic remained in occasional ...

.Stoica and Ionescu-Ghinea, p. 125 The church is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Municipiul București

Notes

References

*Lucia Stoica and Neculai Ionescu-Ghinea, ''Enciclopedia lăcașurilor de cult din București'', vol. I. Bucharest: Editura Universalia, 2005, {{coord, 44.41383, 26.09288, format=dms, type:landmark_region:RO, display=title Historic monuments in Bucharest Romanian Orthodox churches in Bucharest Churches completed in 1910