Romanian Orthodox cathedral under construction in Bucharest
The People's Salvation Cathedral (; "People's Redemption Cathedral" a better translation of the name), also known as the National Cathedral (), is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral under construction in Bucharest to serve as the patriarchal cathedral of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is located in central Bucharest on Spirea's Hill (Arsenal Square), facing the same courtyard as the Palace of Parliament which is the heaviest building in the world, the cathedral having a one-tenth of its weight and about one-fifth of its volume. Situated behind the Palace of Parliament, this will make it 50 metres taller than the Palace, and will help to make the cathedral an iconic landmark in the city. The People's Salvation Cathedral to height (ground-cross), holds a dominant position in Bucharest's cityscape, being visible from all approaches to the city.
It is the tallest and largest Eastern Orthodox church building by volume, and area, in the world. The People's Salvation Cathedral will have the largest collection of church mosaics in the world (interior decoration) when it is completed, having about 18,000 square meters, including the mosaic of the altar is about 3,000 square meters. The mosaic of the National Cathedral contains glass tesserae from Venice, and Carrara stone from Pietrasanta, Italy. Also the People's Salvation Cathedral has the world's largest Orthodox iconostasis (23.8 meters length and 17.1 meters height) and the world's largest free-swinging church bell.
The cathedral is dedicated to the Ascension of Christ, which in Romania is celebrated as the Heroes' Day, and to Saint Andrew the Apostle, protector of Romania. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 November 2018 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, Patriarch Daniel of Romania and Metropolitan Chrysostomos () of Patras from the Greek Orthodox Church. On the same day as the consecration, the very first church service of the cathedral took place and was led by both Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch Daniel. The first patronal feast of the People's Salvation Cathedral was celebrated on 30 November, on the day of 'Saint Andrew the First Called', and the Liturgy was officiated by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and Patriarch Daniel of Romania. The first "Te Deum" of the cathedral was celebrated on 1 December 2018.
History.
Background.
The idea of a national cathedral first emerged following the Romanian War of Independence (1877–1878), which was mainly fought between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. The church was to symbolise the victory of Orthodox Christians over the Ottoman Muslims. The idea was shelved for lack of consensus on design, location and funding. The Unification of the Romanian Principalities in 1859, entailed a unitary organisation of church structures in Moldavia and Wallachia within the Holy Synod (1872), thus the assembly of hierarchs increased to 12 members, including: the Primate Metropolitan (chairman), the Metropolitan of Moldavia and their suffragan bishops of Râmnic, Buzău, Argeș, Roman, Huși and Lower Danube (Galați) and one auxiliary vicar-bishop for every diocese. The old Metropolitan Cathedral had proved overcrowded, especially during the national holidays, such as the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Romania and the crowning of King Carol I of Romania (10 May 1881), when none of the over one hundred churches in Bucharest was able to receive those who would have wanted to participate in the official service. Therefore, at King Carol I's desire, Romania's Assembly of Deputies and the Senate voted in favour of the Law no. 1750 on the construction of the Cathedral Church in Bucharest, promulgated by King Carol I on 5 June 1884.
On 10 May 1920, King Ferdinand I sent a royal letter to Archbishop Miron Cristea, the first Metropolitan-Primate of Greater Romania, supporting the project, but this had no effect. In 1925, after the Romanian Orthodox Church became an independent patriarchate, Metropolitan Cristea now newly enthroned as the first Patriarch of All Romania, suggested Carol Park as a site, but Bibescu Vodă Square ("Unirii Square") was chosen instead. There, in 1929, a cross (calvary) was raised. Lack of funds meant the construction was postponed and later forgotten.
Patriarch Teoctist was the one who re-launched the project of building a National Cathedral, in this sense sanctifying a cross on 5 February 1999 as the cornerstone of the future cathedral, in the place of Unirii Square that had previously been sanctified by Patriarch Miron Cristea. Meanwhile, there had been an epochal event, which was the visit by Pope John Paul II to Romania (7–9 May 1999).
On 16 February 2005, the Bucharest City Hall proposed to the Patriarchate "as the most suitable place to be available" for the structure, which was the Arsenal Hill, considered the highest place in Bucharest. Following the Patriarchate's approval, the Government of Romania promoted the Ordinance no.19/17 March 2005 for the building of the People's Salvation Cathedral. Then the Chamber of Deputies voted to give the building site of 110,000 m2 to Romanian Patriarchate by the protocol of 13 February 2006. The Arsenal Hill was recommended after three other locations were proposed at different stages (Piața Unirii 1999, Alba Iulia Square 2001, Carol Park 2004). Three churches were demolished ("Alba Postăvari", "Spirea Veche", and "Izvorul Tămăduirii"), and two churches had been moved ("Schitul Maicilor" and "Mihai Vodă"), by the communist regime to build civic centre and the Palace of the Parliament, previously known as the House of the People (Romanian: "Casa Poporului"). The cornerstone for the construction of the People's Salvation Cathedral was sanctified on 29 November 2007, being officiated by Patriarch Daniel the sixth Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Building began in 2010, and after almost a decade of construction, the cathedral was consecrated on 25 November 2018. The consecration was held in presence of 100 priests including 60 bishops, where the special guests were the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Patras. Approximately 55,000 people attended at the Divine Liturgy which took place inside the cathedral just after its consecration.
Name.
Metropolitan-primate Miron Cristea proposed the name of the cathedral on 10 May 1920, when spoke in front of the Holy Synod and King Ferdinand, about building a People's Cathedral meant to celebrate the birth of Greater Romania. "Will prove to be a visible symbol of our unity in faith and law" metropolitan-primate Miron explained, and King Ferdinand took the floor referred to a Church of Redemption, while resorted to another phrasing mentioning People's Redemption Church. The Romanian word ""neam" is difficult to translate in English, because the term people does not convey properly the sense of unity of blood and lineage that "neam" suggests, and it is perhaps better expressed by formulas like ethnic nation or kin. The national identity is a kind of ancestor worship, a system of kinship in which national heroes occupy the place of clan elders in defining a nation as a noble lineage. The word "mântuire" just like "neam"" specifically Romanian, is also a complex term. Even though it is commonly translated as salvation, it retains a spiritual nuance that makes redemption a better alternative. Patriarch Daniel explained in 2008 the choice of name at the symposium "New Patriarchal Cathedral", saying: "this name is a manifestation of gratitude or thanksgiving brought to God for the deliverance of the Romanian nation from oppression and alienation".
Feast days.
The Ascension of God is the first celebration of the day, because it is also the day of the Romanian heroes of all time and of all places, and the second is the celebration of Saint Apostle Andrew the first called, Protector of Romania. Patriarch Daniel said about the first celebration: "The homage to the memory of the Romanian heroes during World War I, who fought for national freedom, unity and dignity, must be today a source of inspiration and renewal for patriotic Romanians. That is why, the main dedication of the People's Salvation Cathedral is the Lord's Ascension when we celebrate the Day of Heroes. Thus, besides the practical necessity of the future National Cathedral, this is also a national spiritual symbol, being dedicated to the worship of those who have sacrificed themselves for the defense of the homeland and the Orthodox ancestral faith and for the freedom of the Romanian people". Patriarch Daniel said about the second celebration: "This building will be a symbol of national unity because the feast of Saint Apostle Andrew, which was placed the day before the National Day on 1 December, shows that the national unity has settled with us on the Romanians primarily on spiritual unity, on unity of faith, thought and sentiment. Our church greatly contributed to the development of the Romanian language and Romanian culture."
Construction.
Romanian Patriarchy launched on 28 December 2009 the tender for the selection of the project of the People's Salvation Cathedral. The design proposal should include the feasibility study (SF) and the technical documentation for the construction authorization (DTAC). The delivery term of the documentation accompanied by the proposed model layout was established on 31 May 2010. In June, the Patriarchal Commission for coordination and verification of design works, together with the technical subcommittees for evaluation on architecture, resilience and facilities specialties analyzed the projects presented and determined the scores obtained by the participants. Later, between 30 June and 1 July (2010), the commission of final evaluation of projects under the chairmanship of Patriarch Daniel met at the Patriarchal Palace. Vanel Exim based in Bacău was chosen for the architectural design of the cathredal. On 2 September 2010, the building's construction permit was obtained. To begin the cathedral's construction, 24 notices were needed from various state institutions and the city hall of Bucharest. The works officially started on 15 December 2010, with the breakdown of the axes of the building.
In December 2010 – June 2011, the company Foretis Inject executed the 80-centimeter thick mulled walls of foundation up to 15.8 meters deep (north-south walls), and the company Lufin Construct excavated 90 thousand cubic meters of soil from the foundation. On the higher north–south walls, the anchorages were mounted on three levels, on the shorter east–west walls were mounted two-level anchorages, and the last level of anchorages is located below the groundwater level. The hanger rods have a 75 degree inclination towards the foundation wall, and the fastening was made with the help of 750 concrete-drilled anchorages by the Italian company CasaGrande.
On 28 June 2011, the contract with Bog'Art company for the construction of the building's foundation was concluded. In July 2011 – April 2013, the cathedral was built up to the nave floor of 6.8 meters from the ground. The deep foundation is a 120-meter-long monoblock structure, composed of a network of concrete beams and was imposed to avoid sliding the foundation to earthquakes. The foundation was built between December 2011 - June 2012 and the basement until April 2013. The main building of the cathedral is designed as a structure independent from the walls surrounding foundation, moving like a piston in a cylinder. Around the foundation between the lead tank and mulled walls, an 8-centimeter insulation of expanded polystyrene is arranged, which allows the cathedral's movement in all parts to the earthquake.
For the waterproofing of the cathedral, Bog'Art engineering team together with Swiss engineer Franco Sticher conducted many tests over three months in Romania and Switzerland. Were tested the bitumen foil, bentonite foil, polyurethane foil and lead foil. Due to the corrosion indestructibility, the whole foundation of cathedral was dressed in a lead tank. In November–December 2011, over 120 welders welded 10 thousand square meters lead foils. About 400 tons of lead were used horizontally (4 mm thick) and vertically (3 mm thick) in the cathedral's foundation. Lead has a high plastic deformation capacity without breaking, required quality under conditions of the building massiveness. It is used in high-voltage power cables as shell material and as a protective sheath for underground or underwater cables, to prevent water diffusion into insulation.
On 22 July 2013, the contract was concluded with the Austrian company Strabag for the construction of the building's superstructure. In June 2015, the height of the structure was raised by more than half. To the achievement of vaults, the upper part of nave and dome for not putting pressure on the nave's floor, a metal scaffolding structure weighing 1100 tons was installed in the form of trapezium with base at 27 meters and gradually raised up to 45 meters.
For the People's Salvation Cathedral were used 145 thousand cubic meters of heavy