St. Catherine's Church

About

St. Catherine's Church (Romanian: Biserica Sfânta Ecaterina) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 5 Sfânta Ecaterina Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

The church is located on the site of a monastery church established by Ivașco Golescu, who served as High Vornic from 1574 to 1583. The monastery, first mentioned in a document of 1589, was subservient to Saint Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula. It was repaired in 1595, following the retreat of the Ottoman troops under Koca Sinan Pasha, by Vistier (treasurer) Pană, who thus became a second ktetor.

Nearby, in 1775–1782, Lady Ecaterina Ipsilanti built an inn, later burned and finally demolished in 1862; this circumstance gave rise to the erroneous notion that she founded the monastery. The church was burned by the troops of Gabriel Báthory in 1611 and again repaired by the founders’ descendants. By 1813, the monastery featured large houses for its officials and many annexes.

An 1836 inventory records that the church was made of masonry, with two wooden domes, and was covered in wooden beams. The 1838 earthquake cracked the ceilings, which were repaired. By 1849, it lay in ruins...