Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul

About

The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Constanța (Romanian: Catedrala Sfinții Apostoli Petru și Pavel din Constanța), located at 25 Arhiepiscopiei Street, Constanța, Romania, is the seat of the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Tomis, as well as a monastery. Situated between Ovid Square and the Black Sea in front of the Archbishop's Palace, it was built on the city's peninsular zone in 1883-1885 following plans by architects Alexandru Orăscu and Carol Benesch and, for the interior, Ion Mincu. The cornerstone was laid on 4 September 1883, during the reign of Iosif Gheorghian, Metropolitan of All Romania.

The church was consecrated on 22 May 1895. The building served as a parish church until 1923, when the Diocese of Constanța was established. In that year it became a cathedral, serving as such until 3 August 1941, when its altar and iconostasis, along with icons and paintings, were partly destroyed by aerial bombardment during World War II.

It was restored after the war, from 1946 to 1951. Patriarch Justinian Marina and Bishop Chesarie Păunescu re-consecrated it on 14 January 1951; at that time, Păunescu's seat was moved from Constanța to Galați and the building once again became a parish...