Visit to "St. Nicholas" Greek Catholic Cathedral - information program within Eurovacanta Guide Club

"St. Nicholas" Greek Catholic Cathedral 

History

1744 - is constituted a chapel for the Romanians which were united with Rome by Pál Forgács vicar. He donates his house to build this chapel.

1776-1777 - Maria Theresa ordered the establishment of a Greek Catholic diocese, which will be recognized by the Pope in June 1777. The first bishop was Moses Dragos.

1800 - starts the church construction of St. Nicholas on the former chapel under the direction of Bishop Ignatie Darabant. Works lasted until 1810.

1836 - the Church was already finished and endowed with all the necessary and was sanctified by Bishop Samuil Vulcan.

1836 (June) - occurred the worst fire that ravaged half of Oradea during which the Church roof and steeple burned. The temperature was so high that melted the bells. Bishop Samuil Vulcan was so emotionally shaken that he never recovered and died with this pain in his soul in 1839. By 1870 the edifice was rebuilt and restored by Vasile Erdeli şi Iosif Pop-Sălăjanul bishops.

1892 - Bishop Michael Paul hires the famous painter Szirmai from Budapest to decorate the church.

1907 - an unusually strong wind tipped the golden cross from the top of tower. During the repair work, the bell tower catch fire and destroy all the wooden skeleton steeple. As a result Bishop Demetriu Radu hires the architect Giovanni Quai, which restores the steeple as today. He also designs and executes the Holy Shrine, the Table of oblation and the kliros of the choir (1924) with a capacity of 200 people under the guidance of Bishop Valeriu Traian Frenţiu.

1948-2005 - the church was preached by the Orthodox, during which they performed several repairs in the care of Orthodox bishops Valerian Zaharia, Vasile Coman and Ioan Mihălţan.

Description

External dimensions: 64 m long, 22 m wide, 60 m tower height.

The construction type is nave with apses and the architectural style is late baroque. The iconostasis is also baroque, has 41 icons arranged in six registers and is covered with gold leaf.

The church has vaulted semi-cylindrical in cross cradle and a large choir balcony.

The painting is dominated by an azure blue and the interior is distinguished by the outstanding frescoes, such as the Holy Trinity, Christ among children and the Sermon on the Mount.

The Cathedral has late baroque and classical influences, while the structure is specific to the Western Catholic place of worship.

Noteworthy would be to mention the gift offered by Empress Maria Theresa to the Church, namely two decorative elements on which are painted his son and her portrait, that can be seen to this days in the interior. 

Images inside the church

Visit to the Church with Moon - information program within Eurovacanta Guide Club

The Church with Moon under the patronage of 

"The Assumption of the Virgin Mary"

 History

1743 - Orthodox Romanians established the first Orthodox religious community in Oradea and they arrange a chapel in the house of Michael Kristoff (he was a very known Macedo-Romanian lawyer at that time) on the Peta Street. Until this date, the only Orthodox Church from Oradea was located in Velenta neighborhood, which was far and was inaccessible during raining periods from this part of the town.

1754,1760,1773 - Orthodox believers (Romanian, Serbian and Macedonian) took steps and wrote petitions to the imperial commission to approve the construction of an Orthodox church in the city, but they were every time denied.

1781 - the Emperor Joseph II gives the edict of tolerance that allows them to express freely their  Orthodox worship.

1782, 1783 - Oradea believers draw other petitions for approving the construction of the Orthodox church.

1784 - Michael Püspöki and Michael Kristoff lawyers receive the approval for the building of the church directly from the Emperor of Vienna.

1784 (the 9^th  of November ) - Bishop of Arad, Peter Petrovici laid the foundation stone of the Church with Moon accompanied by a large group of priests and believers.

1784-1790 - the church was constituted according to the plans of the Viennese architect Iacob Ederpe. The Place of the church was donated by Samoila Horvat.

1786 - the arch of the church collapse (dies a mason and other six are injured).

1790 (the 17^th of November) - the Church is officiating his fist service.

1792 - is installed  the first bell (still existing today) and the other three, that will be molten in  the First World War by the Austro-Hungarian army.

1793 - is installed the horologe and the moon, which were built  by George Rueppe, a famous Viennesse watchmaker.

1816 - Alexander and Arsenie Teodorovici from Novi Sad began the interior painting. Other contributors to the painting were Pavel Ghiucovici, Iacob Gölsz and Paul Murgu. Today, from the original painting is kept only the icons placed on the iconostasis, the Bishop See, the pulpit and the two pews. It it's still preserved on the vaulted arch above the iconostasis the image of Horia (as a tribute in the honor of the Revolution that started with the building of the church).

1832 (the 11^th of May) - the Church with Moon was sanctified by Bishop Maxim Manuilovici from Vârşeţ.

1836 (June) - the Church was saved by a great fire that burned up almost all the left side of the Cris river. The legend says that after that fire were seen three white doves flying around the church tower. After this event the shingle roof was replaced with sheet iron.

1919 (the 20^th of April) - the Romanian army was greeted with bread and salt in front of the Church with Moon by the Roman Ciorogariu future Bishop, as a tribute to the fact that the city was eliberated.

1970 - George Costa and Dimitrie Vasu Macedonian merchants donates the holy shrine made of white marble.

1973-1979 - was restored the painting by the painter Eremia Profeta from Bucharest.

1983-1984 - the sculptor Stephen John Gajo and other collaborators have made the three chandeliers.

Description

External dimensions: 37.8 m long, 16.6 m wide, 19 m high and 55 m tower hight.

The architectural style is baroque with neoclassical elements. The construction type is nave with apses and respects the canons of the Byzantine architecture: shrine, nave, narthex and church porch.

The shrine has double walls between which there is a wide corridor of 0.95 m and 4.73 m high. The church has only one arch that rests on three pairs of pillars and the tower rests on four pillars.

The iconostasis is made also in late Baroque style with four registers, contains 45 icons and is gilded with golf leaf to a large extent.

Images inside the church