Patriarchal Residence
The metropolitan and then patriarchal residence became over the ages ‘one of the most active religious and cultural centres of Wallachia’. Built between 1656-1658, together with the Cathedral, the Patriarchal Residence is the treasury of Constantin Șerban Voievod.
The chapel is the oldest part of the residence. Later, the Metropolitans of Muntenia and the patriarchs of the Romanian Orthodox Church carried out extension works.
Substantial interventions were made by Metropolitan Grigorie Dascălul (1832-1834), Patriarch Miron Cristea (1930-1932), Patriarch Justinian (1952-1954), who rebuilt the spire of the chapel, Patriarch Teoctist, who carried out consolidation and modernisation works on this residence, especially in the wing facing bd. George Coșbuc.
The Chapel
Built at the same time as the former residence, founded by Constantin Vodă Șerban (1654-1658), later transformed into the metropolitan residence, the chapel was consolidated during the time of Metropolitan Teodosie (1668-1672 and 1679-1708), with the contribution of Prince Gheorghe Duca (1673-1678), when it is supposed that it was also given the name of St. Great Martyr George. Later, in 1723, as the Greek inscription by the versifier Dumitru Nottara on the north wall recalls, it was radically restored and embellished by the Prince Nicolae Mavrocordat (1719-1730) and Metropolitan Daniil (1719-1731), who are depicted as the founders on the west wall. Among other things, the chapel was repainted, the carved wooden panelling was carved in the Brâncovenesc style, and the door was made of two canes, set in a frame carved in stone. St Daniil was then given as its second feast day.
In 1880, during the time of the Metropolitan Primate Calinic Miclescu (1875-1886), the painter G.I. Pompilian washed and completed the paintwork, which had fallen down in places, and several decades later, between 1960-1961, Patriarch Justinian (1948-1977) restored the spire on the nave, which had fallen down in an earthquake in the second half of the 19th century. In the spirit of his predecessors, between 1987-1989, Patriarch Teoctist preserved and restored the vaulted ceiling and strengthened the exterior.
With its elegant proportions, its pentagonal apses and slender spire, the well-preserved painting, the beauty of the decorative composition and the masterly workmanship of the carved and polished wooden ceiling, the chapel deserves its status as a unique work of art and architecture, a true jewel of the Patriarchal Residence. To this is added the fact that the chapel houses part of the relics of St John Chrysostom, enclosed in a silver rhipidion and placed in a glassed, carved oak reliquary. They were given to the Romanian Patriarchate by the Cardinal of Florence, Silvano Piovanelli, on the occasion of his visit to Bucharest in October 1997.
