Dobroteasa Church

About

The Dobroteasa Church (Romanian: Biserica Dobroteasa) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 35 B Mircea Vodă Boulevard in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Annunciation. According to Nicolae Iorga, the name Dobroteasa may derive from an Old Church Slavonic term for the Virgin Mary, or from the wife of a certain Dobrotă who may have endowed the original 17th century church.

According to the pisanie, a masonry church was built on the site in 1730, with Vistier (treasurer) Constantin Năsturel as ktetor; earlier, a small wooden church had stood there. Damaged by the 1838 earthquake, it was restored in 1847. By 1884, the church again lay in ruins, and the city authorities ordered its demolition.

The current church was begun in 1887, completed in November 1892 and, nearly a year later, dedicated with great pomp by Metropolitan Ghenadie Petrescu. Gheorghe Ioanide painted Biblical scenes on large panels between 1893 and 1894. The carved oak choir seats are decorated with griffons and a crown with cross, the coat of arms of the Năsturel family.

Thorough repairs took place in 1955–1958. Consolidation work began in 1985, following the 1977 quake. The church was shut down in 1986 and...