Cathedral of Divine Providence (Chișinău)

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The Catholic Church in Chișinău around 1900

The Cathedral of Divine Providence ( Romanian. Catedrala Providenţa Divină ) is the episcopal church of the Roman Catholic diocese of Chișinău in the Moldovan capital of Chișinău ( Chisinau ). It was built from 1840 to 1843 in the classical style. The Petersburg architect Josef Ivanovich Charlemagne (1782–1861) is considered to be the creator of the design . The cathedral is on the list of national historical and cultural monuments.

history

In the 1820s, the small, predominantly Polish-born Catholic community built a chapel with the patronage of Providence on the site of today's cathedral . By the 1830s it was no longer sufficient. A building subsidy from Tsar Nicholas I made it possible to build the present church.

In 1964 the Providence Church was expropriated by the Soviet administration and later converted into a sound and film studio. The parish was allowed to continue to gather in a cemetery chapel for worship. In 1989 the church, after intervention u. a. of the Red Cross and the United Nations , returned to the Catholic parish and subsequently restored. In 1993 it became the seat of the Apostolic Administration of Moldova and in 2001 it became the cathedral of the newly established diocese of Chișinău.

Architecture and equipment

The cathedral is oriented to the southwest and has a rectangular floor plan with a semicircular apse . The nave comprises five yokes . Adjacent to this is a show facade to the northeast with the portal inserted into a large arched window and two square bell towers.

Two rows of Corinthian columns divide the interior into a wide central nave with a barrel vault and two narrow aisles with coffered ceilings .

The original, richly illustrated furnishings were lost after it was closed in the 1960s. The current furnishings were created in the 1990s with a view to the cathedral elevation.

Web links

Coordinates: 47 ° 1 ′ 44.8 ″  N , 28 ° 49 ′ 44.7 ″  E