Batiștei Church
Batiștei Church | |
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Biserica Batiștei | |
44°26′20″N 26°06′17″E / 44.4390°N 26.1047°E | |
Location | 21 Batiștei Street, Sector 2, Bucharest |
Country | Romania |
Denomination | Eastern Orthodox |
Website | www |
Architecture | |
Functional status | active |
Completed | 1763 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Batiștei Church. |
Batiștei Church (
.History
On the site of the present church or immediately nearby, an earlier church with the same name was built under Matei Basarab (1632–1654), first mentioned in a document of 1660. According to Nicolae Iorga, the name comes from Baptista Vevelli (Romanianized as Batiște), influential adviser to Radu Mihnea and possible ktitor. Another theory holds that a cattle grazing area in the vicinity was beaten down (bătătorit) by their hooves, and that this designation produced the name for the surrounding neighborhood and its church. Bucharest was hit by an earthquake in 1738 and by a fire the following year; it is possible that the first church was destroyed at the time.[1]
In 1763, Manciu,
The earliest image of the church dates to 1813; the ink drawing, by a jacket maker and choir singer, shows a tall wooden fence and two cupolas apparently of stone. The same year, Calinic of Cernica was ordained a priest there. The church's first record book is from 1844. It mentions that the attached cells were occupied by priests as well as poor people, orphans and widows. It notes that the iconostasis is of wood, the murals old, the seven windows framed in stone, the wooden door plated with iron, and the cupolas and roof made of rather old fir boards. A similar work from 1850 reveals that the domes were coated in tin, indicating the structure was growing weaker in the wake of the 1838 earthquake. In 1869, Italian painter Domenico Preziosi executed a fine watercolor of the church; however, by around 1880, it was in a deplorable state. Repairs were carried out in 1883, but these only further damaged the structure.[1]
In 1905–1906, the iconostasis was gilt and its icons framed in silver, the murals were washed, new choirs were installed, stained glass was put in and the yard was fenced in. It was only in 1929–1930 that more ambitious repairs were carried out, based on the Preziosi painting. The domes were rebuilt, large amounts of added masonry were removed, the new vestibule was separated from the old, and in 1940, the murals were again cleaned. In 1938, during renovations, important original elements were found buried under mortar. The latest major repair work took place in the 1990s.[1]
Description
A typical example of Romanian architecture from the later 18th century, the church has an exterior divided by a horizontal stone border. There are arches below, while above sit five medallion icons: Saints
In the vestibule, subjects include the
Two large silver icons depicting Jesus and Mary were brought from the chapel of
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g (in Romanian) Parohia Batiștei at the Sector 2 Archpriest's district site
- ^ (in Romanian) Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: București Archived 2018-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- (in Romanian) Official site