Located near the Arc de Triomphe and dedicated to the Saints Archangels Michael and Gabriel, but also to the Holy Great Martyr Catherine, the Cașin church has a special story, being admired and visited annually by tens of thousands of tourists from the country and abroad.
Cașin Church, an architectural gem PHOTO Iulia Marian
Built over the course of 16 years and combining the Brancoven style with Byzantine architecture, the Cașin church is the largest Orthodox church in the Capital.
“In the years following the First World War, Bucharest began to expand strongly. And in the north of the capital, a new neighborhood was created, formed by the subdivision of the Herăstrău estate into numerous house sites purchased by the employees of the Ministry of Agriculture and Domains. And the new owners wanted very much to have a place of worship in the area. After numerous insistences, donations were obtained from many believers, from several institutions, but also from General Ion Antonescu”history professor Constantin Vasilescu told “Adevărul”.
And a brilliant architect won the competition for the Cașin church project, which was to be built on land donated by the Capital City Hall.
It is about Dimitrie Ionescu-Berechet, originally from Câmpulung-Muscel and who was the chief architect of the Romanian Patriarchate, a position he fulfilled with great passion and devotion in the period 1930-1963, except for the years 1945-1948, when he was the head of the Architecture Department in the Ministry of Religion.
Altar of the church PHOTO Wikipedia
Eminent graduate of the Higher School of Architecture in Bucharest, Dimitrie Ionescu-Berechet made numerous study trips to the Balkans, the Middle East and Africa, managing to create a unique architectural style, a style in which elements of modern architecture perfectly blend with traditional architecture Romanian.
And the Cașin church is one of Dimitrie Ionescu-Berechet's masterpieces. Work began in August 1935, being interrupted in November 1938 due to the Second World War and continued in the period 1946-1959.
For four years, in the period 1956-1960, the Cașin church was closed by the communists, being reopened after many efforts and insistences by Alexandru Ionescu, at that time administrative vicar of the Archdiocese of Bucharest and at the same time parish priest of the Cașin church.
“A detail that makes Cașin church unique in Romania is the fact that the arches and walls of the altar are completely decorated in Murano glass. The apse of the altar appears illuminated in green, in a very interesting contrast with the white marble with which the catepeteasm is clad”Professor Constantin Vasilescu adds.
