Transylvania is famous for its multicultural tourist offer. When it comes to religion, in most of the cities you find at least five types or churches, some of them dating back to medieval times. Mediaș is not any different. There are three nationalities living in the city at least. I've written already about the oldest church in the city, which is the Lutheran St. Margaret Church and now it's time to show you the orthodox cathedral as well.
Another impressive religious building is the Orthodox cathedral, called also Biserica Sfintii Arhangheli Mihail si Gavriil, that is situated on the Closca street. Built in a byzantine style between 1929 and 1933, it's an architectural masterpiece and a very interesting tourist attraction.
How To Get There
The cathedral is within a walking distance from the city center and once you're visiting the Forksch tower, you're in front of the cathedral already as it's across the street.
The Cathedral
The facade is already impressive from architectural point of view, let alone that stylish wooden door, which always fascinates me. Unfortunately taking a perfect photo of that door is quite impossible. Last time I tried to do that, I had to close the door at least 5 times and by the time I got the the spot which I thought it's perfect for taking a good shot, someone exited thee church and let the door open, or entered the church and did the same thing, so I had to give it up. Now I know better. Usually orthodox and catholic churches are open all day for people to be able to pray, so traffic can be intense sometimes.
Perhaps to rival the jewels of Gothic art, the Byzantine-style cathedral covers an impressive area of over 500 square meters. The interior paintings were made, with great effort, by the painter from Pitesti Gheorghe Belizarie, in about two years, and will then be restored, over time, by other Romanian artists.
The exterior of the cathedral is as impressive as the interior, where clear influences of the Brancoveanu style can be identified. To cope with the years, the original roof of the cathedral was once replaced with copper sheeting, and the exterior walls were covered with a fine marble dust.
The two impressive towers of the cathedral can be seen from a great distance, from all over Mediaş, having the height of a four-storey building, but without other buildings in the area with similar heights, which would take it out of the staircase. translation
The minute you step into the cathedral, you are already fascinated by its beauty if you like this type of architecture. I see these cathedrals as God's palaces, even though I don't agree with spending this amount of money on a building, instead of helping the poor and kids to get educated. But that's a different matter so let's enjoy the beauty of the cathedral.
It's interesting that these cathedrals don't have many windows, so natural light is missing most of the time, which makes the photographer's job much more harder, mainly because using the flash is either not permitted, or not appropriate. The above photo however, I think it's alright. I need to mention that when I entered the cathedral, I was expecting someone to tell me I'm not allowed to photograph, but that did not happen fortunately.
The position of the seats in a church is always a mystery for me. As you can see here, there are the normal chairs and the ones at the side. I know in some churches, there's an order to be respected, regarding where certain people are allowed to sit. Centuries ago, nobles who were sponsoring the church had their seat marked with their name carved into the wood and they were always staying in the front row. Those days are over, but there may still be some rules in place today.
The abundance of holy icons is obvious from the entrance. Unfortunately there are no icons, so these scenes are not familiar to me.
On my way out I took a photo of the open door. What I did not photograph was the two sides at the entrance, where people are lighting candles. One side is for the living, the other side is for those that are no longer with us. There were people there and I respect their privacy.