ORTHODOX CHURCH OF THE „ASSUMPTION”- LIPOVENI

WOODEN CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION
October 23, 2017
„HOLY TRINITY” ORTHODOX CHURCH OF MAIERI II
October 23, 2017

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The northern district of the XVIII century city centre is named Lipoveni. In the first decades of this century, the Assumption Church was erected here. The years 1690-1691 are inscribed above the entrance into the church, but the inscription is considered unlikely by historians. The place of worship is not listed among a detailed map of the city from 1711. It only appears in the cartographic representations from 1752.

The main contributor to the edifice was Ioan Dragoş de Thurna, an interesting character ennobled by Empress Maria Theresa in 1742. His name and coat of arms are engraved on two silver votive candles from 1736 and 1766 respectively.

Several rebuilds have transformed the Church since the eighteenth century: the walls were raised, the vaults were rebuilt, the nave was united with the narthex, a counter-tower was built, and a massive bell-tower that contrasts with the body church was added. The interior painting still visible today is from 1957-1958.

One peculiarity of the place of worship is a painting on an outer wall, an occurrence seldom seen in the Orthodox churches.

The church was also the scene of disputes between Orthodox and Greek Catholics. It was the place where Sofronie from Cioara held the Holy Synod of Orthodox Christians in Transylvania on February 14-18, 1761. The monk led a revival movement of Orthodoxy, which had lost ground in favour of Greek Catholicism. In fact, the Holy Synod of Alba Iulia was assembled towards the end of Sofronie’s movement, who fled to Wallachia soon afterwards. The presence of Sofronie from Cioara in the church of Lipoveni is marked by a bust in the yard of the edifice. The church was Greco-Catholic until 1948, when it became an Orthodox, with the dissolution of this confession by the communist authorities.

The courtyard includes old funerary monuments with inscriptions in Cyrillic since the century when it was built. Here is also an earlier monument built in remembrance of Romanians fallen during the Revolution of 1848-1849.

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