Chisinau Metropolitan Cathedral: a short history

The Cathedral of the Nativity of God is an orthodox cathedral in Chisinau which is near the market of the Great National Assembly and belongs to the Orthodox Church of Moldova. The building of the cathedral is a monument of architecture of national significance, introduced in the Register of historical and cultural monuments of Chisinau municipality at the initiative of the Academy of Sciences. The first radio station in Chisinau, Radio Basarabia, was officially inaugurated by transmitting the liturgy from the Metropolitan Cathedral on October 8, 1939.

The cathedral seen from the bell tower

Historic

The initiative to raise the Cathedral belongs to the metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni (1812-1821), the place of its location is indicated in the first urban plan of Chisinau in 1817. The construction was carried out during his successor, between 1832-1836 by Archbishop Dumitru Sulima (1821 -1 844). It is built of stone and brick, with three altars: central – the Birth of God, lateral (initially bent): the southern one - St. Alexander Nevski, the northern one – St. Nicholas Mirlikysky. Today, the two lateral altars are dedicated to the blessed believer Stefan cel Mare and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a feast on which the city of Chisinau celebrates its anniversary –October 14th. The architect of the holy place is Abraham. I. Melnikov, master of the Russian empirical style.

The ensemble of the cathedral consists of a church or cathedral itself, a bell tower with four levels and the Holy Gates. The city's works highlight the concern for the creation of the urban center, and a special role in its architectural-spatial composition had to be played by the city's cathedral. In the plan of 1817, the location of the cathedral, with a cruciform plan, was already indicated in the city center.

The ensemble of the Cathedral

Architecture

Cathedral. The architecture is of late neoclassical style, also called empirical, with the use of columns of ancient Greek forms. It was built in an eclectic style, a combination of the Greek Byzantine plan inscribed with the central Renaissance-type principles. It has a symmetrical composition, in plan representing a square with a side of 27 m, by attaching to the cubic body four porticoes of six Doric columns, being obtained a cruciform plan, with the facades solved identically.

The cupola, surmounted by a cylindrical drum, is supported by four square pillars in section, which take the weight through four double arches and four pendants. The parabolic dome cover, with its radiating ribs, was made of iron sheet. Through the wide drum, 13 m wide, with 12 windows, the interior is flooded with light. The interior surfaces of the walls and vaults were painted with biblical and evangelical subjects. The plastered parts suggested the impression of marble slabs.

The cathedral suffered during the Second World War, the tower and the cupola, the interiors being reconstructed with deviations from the original forms.

Belfry. It was built concurrently with the cathedral, located 40 m away from it, symmetrical with the cathedral and in front of the geometric center of the cathedral district. It has four levels, three prisms, with the side in successive retraction, and the fourth in the form of a circular recess in the plane, for the bell chamber, covered with a dome. At the first level, there was a chapel, the entrance of which was through a two-column porch, located on the south side. Identical porticoes adorned each facade of the belfry, making a repetition, on a small scale of the composition of the cathedral, harmonizing with this and the shape of the domes. It was demolished in the 1960s of the 20th century and rebuilt in 1998 after the vintage images.

The Holy Gates. For the largest bell, the windows of the bell room proved to be too small. To house the big bell the decision was made to build a special bell tower, its author being the architect Luca Zauşkevici, in which the function of the bell tower with that of the entrance gate was combined. The bell-gate got the shape of the Arch of Triumph, placed at the entrance to the territory of the cathedral square from the direction of the Metropolis (destroyed in the war years).

It is a construction in the spirit of the Empire style, the peculiarity of the Chisinau arch lies in solving the four-way crossing, obtaining four identical facades, with four pillars. In the plan, it is square, with the pillars at the corners adorned on two exterior facades with a pair of Corinthian columns. The upper part is an attic, which rests on these four pillars, which corresponds to the bell chamber, where hangs the heavy bell of 400 puddings.

The source of information: wikipedia.org