Bucharest Trip – Day 3 : Goldsmiths Church
Excuse the long delay between posts, I’ve been somewhat distracted this week with another project. Since I’d better get this Bucharest trip written up, I’m going to do a little binge posting today. My two loyal blog readers will be beside themselves with excitement. This rather quaint church was founded by Mihai Cantacuzino in 1705, although it was reworked between 1850 and 1852 which was necessary given the damage caused by previous earthquakes in 1802 and 1838. The new church was built in stone near to the site of a previous seventeenth century wooden church and the inn and bell tower located in front of the building were unfortunately demolished in 1903 when they wanted to widen the street.
Photography in these churches isn’t allowed which is disappointing from a perspective of being able to remember some interior features, it’s understandable in such a small venue which is actively used for prayer. I do wonder what happens to all the photos that people take in churches as mine end up on this blog, but I suspect a substantial number of the photos taken are never looked at again. It’s like watching some tourists take a photo of every single artwork in a gallery, it would be easier to do a bulk download of the images on the gallery’s web-site. Anyway, I digress.
Back to the church, the smell of incense was intense, with the interior being dark and quite cosy. The devotees were seeking solace and comfort from a relic (I say relic, it’s actually St. Cyprian’s arm, so not some minor piece of religious heritage) and I’m not sure that much has changed here in the last 200 years or so.
Looking back in history, the feeding the pigeons at Trafalgar Square was great for kids but really something of a bad idea. There are though quite a few feeding adherents in Bucharest and that coincided at a time when Bev was standing there. She gave verbal guarantees to Steve and I that she wasn’t responsible for the scrum of pigeons that was on the pavement. Reading up on the history of the church also is a reminder of just how many earthquakes have hit the city over the last two centuries and caused considerable damage.
