The Holy Trinity Church, Sighişoara () is a

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the East ...

located on the northern bank of the

Târnava Mare River The Târnava (full name in ; ; ; ) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the Mureș after 23 km near the town of Teiuș. The two source ...

, Sighişoara,

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. As the seat of an

archpriest The ecclesiastical title of archpriest or archpresbyter belongs to certain priests with supervisory duties over a number of parishes. The term is most often used in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches and may be somewhat analogo ...

and not a bishop, it is a church and not technically a cathedral, but is commonly referred to as such.

History

It was built in what was known at the time as ''Parcul Elisabeta'' (Elizabeth Park), commencing in 1934, after a proposal to build it in the town center was turned down. Building supervisors were Archpriest Emilian Stoica and Priest Aurel Stoicovici. The church cost 12 million lei: money that came from the management of a 300

arpent An arpent (, sometimes called arpen) is a unit of length and a unit of area. It is a pre-metric French unit based on the Roman ''actus''. It is used in Quebec, some areas of the United States that were part of French Louisiana, and in Mauritius ...

s of forest that the church had been given in 1925; from donation of religious; from Ministry of Culture; from University of Germany; from the mayor of Sighisoara and prefecture of Tarnava Mare. The 31 October 1937 sanctification ceremony was led by Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan. http://www.schaessburg-net.de/sn19/orthodox.htm The ceremony witnessed the presence of 40 priests; 2 ministers from Bucharest and more than 10.000 people.

Architecture

The Holy Trinity Church, Sighişoara was designed in the Neo-Byzantine style. It was built in 1934-37 following the plans of architect Dumitru Petrescu Gopeş, with interior paintings done by the painter

Anastase Demian Anastase Demian (25 May 1899 – 5 September 1977) was a Romanian painter, illustrator, and university professor. Early life and education Anastase Demian was born on 25 May 1899 in Budapest. His father, either named Dumitru or Anastasie Demi ...

according to tempera technique. The

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

was built by two artists from

Rupea Rupea (; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Räppes''; ; ) is a town in Brașov County in Transylvania, Romania. It administers one village, Fișer (''Schweischer''; ''Sövénység''). Both Fișer and Rupea have fortified churches. Older Romanian names for ...

, Schiopul and Babic. The smallest of the three

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

s (350 kg) was donated by the parishioners, the middle one (730 kg) by Mayor Aurel Mosora, and the biggest one (1430 kg) by County Prefect dr. Victor Stirbet on behalf of the county prefecture. The walls were repainted between 1980 and 1984 according to fresco technique. During these years of repairs an underground chapel for funerals was built as well. ;Vox Animi The church has its own choir, called ''Vox Animi''. http://voxanimi.ro/istoric.html File:Biserica Sf. Treime din Sighisoara3.JPG, File:Holy Trinity Church, Sighișoara.jpg,

References

"Planul Local de Dezvoltare Durabilă a Municipiului Sighişoara"
Sighişoara City Hall Romanian Orthodox churches in Mureș County Sighișoara Churches completed in 1937 Byzantine Revival architecture in Romania {{Romania-EO-church-stub