ITALIAN CHURCH BUCHAREST

BUCHAREST

The Italian Church in Bucharest is a property or the Italian State and its arcs and cupola are painted on dry walls( or al fresco). The magnificent painting in the altar represents a a great tree with branches on which you will see churches from Italy. The king Vittorio Emmanuel III, the Pope payed for the building which was ready in 1916. The architects Mario Stoppa and Giuseppe Firaboschi made the plan. Antonio Mantica took care of the Italian Church in Bucharest but in 1950 he was send to jail by the communist authorities for 15 years.

ITALIAN CHURCH IN BUCHAREST HISTORY

Priest Clemente Gati took the job after Antonio Mantica was put to prison but he is also send to jail by communists and in 1952 the Italian Church in Bucharest is closed. In 1968, the Italian prime-minister visited Bucharest and it was the moment when the church is free to visit and to pray in again. Something similar happened to the ANGLICAN CHURCH.

THE ALTAR OF THE ITALIAN CHURCH IN BUCHAREST

There are two amazing things about the Italian Church in Bucharest. It needs repairs after the 1997 great earthquake and between 1978 and 1980, on the back wall of the chorus, the painter Mihu Vulcanescu realized the greatest pottery made panel in Romania. And that is not all. The altar was made from a single stump of a cut down tree and it is the masterpiece of George Apostu.

AROUND ITALIAN CHURCH

In 1997, four bas-reliefs were added to the wooden entrance door. The Italian Church in Bucharest is 5 minutes walk from University Square and it has a tower, campanilla, places to live for the employees, with a very small garden. It was built in new-romantic style with Renaissance influences and it is 24 X 17 m, with an orgue and upstairs.
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