Bucharest Russian Church

St. Nicholas Russian Church (Romanian: Biserica Rusă) is located in central Bucharest, Romania, just off University Square. Russian Ambassador Mikhail Nikolaevich Giers initiated the building of a Russian Orthodox church in central Bucharest in 1905. It was meant mainly for the use of the legation employees, as well as for Russians living in the capital city of the Kingdom of Romania. The Court of Emperor Nicholas II provided the funds needed for the building (600, 000 gold rubles). The structure occupies a surface of 350 m2 (3, 800 sq ft) and it was set in brick and stone. The seven domes (taking the shape of onion domes — characteristic of Russia, but unusual in Romania) were initially covered in gold. The iconostasis was carved in wood and then covered in gold, following the model of Church of the Twelve Apostles in the Moscow Kremlin. The church was finished in 1909, and it was sanctified on November 25, 1909. During World War I, just before the start of the occupation of Bucharest by the Central Powers, it was closed, while all valuables and the archives were transported to Iași and then farther to Saint Petersburg, where they vanished during the Russian Revolution of 1917. After the war, physical damage was repaired by the Russian community in Bucharest, with services starting again in 1921. As the service was held in Old Church Slavonic, it was also attended by ethnic Bulg

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