Are you looking for a few moments of peace and quiet after your walk along Calea Victoriei? Then enter the inner courtyard of the Stavropoleos Church and admire the details of the building, built in the Brancovenesc style, today a historical monument and an oasis of calm.
The Stavropoleos Church is an Orthodox church, built in the Brancovenesque style, in the centre of Bucharest. The church is dedicated to St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The name Stavropoleos is the Romanian form of the Greek word Stauropolis, which translates as “City of the Cross”.
The church was built in 1724, during the reign of Nicolae Mavrocordat (ruler of the Romanian Country, 1719-1730), by Archimandrite Ioanichie Stratonikeas, a native of Epirus. In the courtyard of his inn, built in 1704, Ioanichie built a church and a monastery, economically supported by the income from the inn (a common situation at the time). In 1726 Abbot Ioanichie was elected Metropolitan of Stavropole and Exarch of Caria. The monastery he built has since been called Stavropoleos, after the name of the old see. On February 7, 1742, 61 year old Ioanichie died and was buried in his church.
