St. Nicholas Cathedral, Tulcea

St. Nicholas Cathedral (Catedrala Sf. Nicolae) is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral located at 37 Progresului Street in Tulcea, Romania. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas, and is the see of the Diocese of Tulcea. The original church on the site, a small wooden structure, was built in the 18th century by Romanian refugees from nearby Beștepe, who fled depredation by bashi-bazouk soldiers, preferring the security of Tulcea. Regular services were conducted in Romanian by a priest from Transylvania. Later, the community received special approval to raise a larger church, complete with domes, becoming the town's first such building. The present cathedral was begun in 1862, with the benediction of Metropolitan Dionisie of Durostor. In 1867, while traveling to Constantinople for his investiture, Prince Carol I of Romania stopped at the nearly finished church, donating a metal chalice and a hundred gold coins. The Ottoman authorities closed the church in 1872. In November 1877, during the Romanian War of Independence, Metropolitan Nichifor of Dobruja, a Greek, forcibly reopened the church, in agreement with the leading local Romanians. The local Russian military governor rushed to the spot, threatening to send the metropolitan to Siberia; the latter held firm, and the governor accepted the fait accompli, with the Romanian community taking possession. Subsequently, the church host

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