The Old Court Church or Saint Anthony Orthodox Church - Bucharest Romania - ECTV

The Curtea Veche Church is the oldest church in Bucharest, founded by Mr. Mircea the Shepherd, during his first reign, between 1545-1554. The edifice located in the old center of Bucharest, Lipscani, the former Old Court, served for two centuries as the coronation place of the rulers of Wallachia. The church is dedicated to the Annunciation and St. Anthony.

The Serbian-type trifled plan edifice was influenced by the cozia monastery church. The narthex has an almost square shape, with large windows on the facades of N and S, being covered with a cylindrical vault. The nave supports through the arches the spire placed on a circular drum inside and with 12 sides on the outside. The spire is vaulted with a spherical dome. The passage between the narthex and the nave is made under a double arch. The altar has two absidiole flanking it, the proscomidia and the deacon. The church no longer has a porch.

At the construction of the church was used the buttress with a constructive role for the first time in Wallachia, of Moldovan influence. The façade is made of apparent brick in 3 horizontal rows each and two bricks laid vertically on the plastered strips. At the top, under the cornice a row of owls made of apparent brick. The cornice is made of bricks in the form of saw teeth. The pedestal is made of concave-profile bricks laid on the edge. The frame of the entrance dates back to 1715.


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