125-847: The Orthodox Cathedral ( Romanian : Catedrala Ortodoxă ), also known as the Metropolitan Cathedral ( Romanian : Catedrala Mitropolitană ), is a Romanian Orthodox church in Timișoara . The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishopric of Timișoara and the Metropolis of Banat . It is dedicated to the Three Holy Hierarchs , Basil the Great , Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom . Built on an area of 1,542 m, it has 11 towers, of which
250-485: A lexicon of over 150,000 words in its contemporary form, Romanian showed a high degree of lexical permeability, reflecting contact with Thraco-Dacian , Slavic languages (including Old Slavic , Serbian , Bulgarian , Ukrainian , and Russian ), Greek , Hungarian , German , Turkish , and to languages that served as cultural models during and after the Age of Enlightenment , in particular French . This lexical permeability
375-609: A "regional language" alongside Ukrainian as per the 2012 legislation on languages in Ukraine . Romanian is an official or administrative language in various communities and organisations, such as the Latin Union and the European Union . Romanian is also one of the five languages in which religious services are performed in the autonomous monastic state of Mount Athos , spoken in the monastic communities of Prodromos and Lakkoskiti . In
500-517: A Byzantine aristocrat and general who lived c. 1235 to c. 1305–08. It displays the attenuated proportions favored in the late Byzantine era, as well as shifts in style in the mosaics' treatment of figures. As early as the building of Constantine's churches in Palestine there were two chief types of plan in use: the basilican , or axial, type, represented by the basilica at the Holy Sepulchre , and
625-578: A distinct style gradually resulted in the Greek cross plan in church architecture . Civil architecture continued Greco-Roman trends; the Byzantines built impressive fortifications and bridges, but generally not aqueducts on the same scales as the Romans. This terminology was introduced by modern historians to designate the medieval Roman Empire as it evolved as a distinct artistic and cultural entity centered on
750-719: A foreign language, for example the Nicolae Bălcescu High-school in Gyula , Hungary. Romanian is taught as a foreign language in tertiary institutions, mostly in European countries such as Germany, France and Italy, and the Netherlands, as well as in the United States. Overall, it is taught as a foreign language in 43 countries around the world. Romanian has become popular in other countries through movies and songs performed in
875-630: A great part of current Italy used to belong to the Byzantine Empire before that. Great examples of Byzantine architecture are still visible in Ravenna (for example Basilica di San Vitale which architecture influenced the Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne). As for the East, Byzantine architectural tradition exerted a profound influence on early Islamic architecture , particularly Umayyad architecture . During
1000-853: A model for both in that it combined the elements of a longitudinal basilica with those of a centralized building. Other structures include the ruins of the Great Palace of Constantinople , the innovative walls of Constantinople (with 192 towers) and Basilica Cistern (with hundreds of recycled classical columns). A mosaic in the church begun by the Ostrogoths , San Apollinare in Nuovo in Ravenna, depicts an early Byzantine palace. Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki , Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai , Jvari Monastery in present-day Georgia , and three Armenian churches of Echmiadzin all date primarily from
1125-515: A museum. It is open everyday, except for Tuesdays. Construction of Hagia Irene The most famous example of Byzantine architecture is the Hagia Sophia , and it has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world ", and as an architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization . The Hagia Sophia held the title of largest church in the world until
1250-517: A name that was extended to the literature and writers around this time such as Vasile Alecsandri , Grigore Alexandrescu , Nicolae Bălcescu , Timotei Cipariu . Between 1830 and 1860 "transitional alphabets" were used, adding Latin letters to the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet . The Latin alphabet became official at different dates in Wallachia and Transylvania - 1860, and Moldova -1862. Following
1375-518: A regular mix of stone and brick , often with more of the latter. The exterior of the 11th- or 12th-century Pammakaristos Church in Istanbul is an example, though it is even more renowned for Late Byzantine additions discussed below. The Paleologan period is well represented in a dozen former churches in Istanbul, notably St Saviour at Chora and St Mary Pammakaristos . Unlike their Slavic counterparts,
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#17330857920391500-572: A significant share of the local population (districts in Chernivtsi , Odesa and Zakarpattia oblasts ) Romanian is taught in schools as a primary language and there are Romanian-language newspapers, TV, and radio broadcasting. The University of Chernivtsi in western Ukraine trains teachers for Romanian schools in the fields of Romanian philology, mathematics and physics. In Hertsa Raion of Ukraine as well as in other villages of Chernivtsi Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast , Romanian has been declared
1625-415: A square and divide each side into three so that the middle parts are greater than the others, and then divide the area into nine from these points, we approximate to the typical setting out of a plan of this time. Now add three apses on the east side opening from the three divisions, and opposite to the west put a narrow entrance porch running right across the front. Still in front put a square court. The court
1750-408: A straight extension, to the west. This unbroken area, about 260 ft (80 m) long, the larger part of which is over 100 ft (30 m) wide, is entirely covered by a system of domical surfaces. Above the conchs of the small apses rise the two great semi-domes which cover the hemicycles, and between these bursts out the vast dome over the central square. On the two sides, to the north and south of
1875-748: Is also a collection of early writings in Romanian . Examples include the 1648 Noul Testament de la Bălgrad ("The New Testament of Bălgrad ") and the 1643 Cazania lui Varlaam ("The Homiliary of Varlaam "). The side of the basement from the altar includes the necropolis of the metropolitans of Banat. The first metropolitan buried here was Vasile Lăzărescu [ ro ] (metropolitan during 1947–1961). Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian ; endonym : limba română [ˈlimba roˈmɨnə] , or românește [romɨˈneʃte] , lit. ' in Romanian ' )
2000-424: Is also spoken within communities of Romanian and Moldovan immigrants in the United States, Canada and Australia, although they do not make up a large homogeneous community statewide. Many are Moldavians who were deported Data only for the districts on the right bank of Dniester (without Transnistria and the city of Tighina). In Moldova, it is sometimes referred to as the " Moldovan language " In Transnistria, it
2125-489: Is called Daco-Romanian as opposed to its closest relatives, Aromanian , Megleno-Romanian , and Istro-Romanian . It is also spoken as a minority language by stable communities in the countries surrounding Romania ( Bulgaria , Hungary , Serbia and Ukraine ), and by the large Romanian diaspora . In total, it is spoken by 25 million people as a first language . Romanian was also known as Moldovan in Moldova, although
2250-608: Is continuing today with the introduction of English words. Yet while the overall lexis was enriched with foreign words and internal constructs, in accordance with the history and development of the society and the diversification in semantic fields, the fundamental lexicon—the core vocabulary used in everyday conversation—remains governed by inherited elements from the Latin spoken in the Roman provinces bordering Danube , without which no coherent sentence can be made. Romanian descended from
2375-580: Is defined by its large atrium, and is in fact the only surviving building of the Byzantine Empire to have such a feature. Hagia Irene is composed mainly of three materials: stone, brick, and mortar . Bricks 70 cm x 35 cm x 5 cm were used, and these bricks were glued together using mortar approximately 5 cm thick. The building materials chosen for the construction of the church had to be lightweight, durable, and strong. Volcanic materials were chosen for this purpose, as volcanic concrete
2500-477: Is distinguished by the activity of Romanian literature classics in its early decades: Mihai Eminescu , Ion Luca Caragiale , Ion Creangă , Ioan Slavici . The current orthography, with minor reforms to this day and using Latin letters, was fully implemented in 1881, regulated by the Romanian Academy on a fundamentally phonological principle, with few morpho-syntactic exceptions. The first Romanian grammar
2625-593: Is official only in the villages of Vojvodinci ( Voivodinț ), Markovac ( Marcovăț ), Straža ( Straja ), Mali Žam ( Jamu Mic ), Malo Središte ( Srediștea Mică ), Mesić ( Mesici ), Jablanka ( Iablanca ), Sočica ( Sălcița ), Ritiševo ( Râtișor ), Orešac ( Oreșaț ) and Kuštilj ( Coștei ). In the 2002 Census, the last carried out in Serbia, 1.5% of Vojvodinians stated Romanian as their native language. The Vlachs of Serbia are considered to speak Romanian as well. In parts of Ukraine where Romanians constitute
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#17330857920392750-639: Is officially called " Moldovan language " and is written in Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet . Officially divided into Vlachs and Romanians Most in Northern Bukovina and Southern Bessarabia; according to a Moldova Noastră study (based on the latest Ukrainian census). According to the Constitution of Romania of 1991, as revised in 2003, Romanian is the official language of the Republic. Romania mandates
2875-484: Is representative of Byzantine architecture. Both of the domes collapsed at different times throughout history due to earthquakes and had to be rebuilt. The original construction of Hagia Sophia was possibly ordered by Constantine, but ultimately carried out by his son Constantius II in 360. Constantine's building of churches, specifically the Hagia Sophia, was considered an incredibly significant component in his shift of
3000-456: Is the atrium and usually has a fountain in the middle under a canopy resting on pillars. The entrance porch is the narthex . Directly under the center of the dome is the ambo , from which the Scriptures were proclaimed, and beneath the ambo at floor level was the place for the choir of singers. Across the eastern side of the central square was a screen which divided off the bema , where
3125-585: Is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova . Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages , a linguistic group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin which separated from the Western Romance languages in the course of the period from the 5th to the 8th centuries. To distinguish it within the Eastern Romance languages, in comparative linguistics it
3250-477: Is very light and durable. Perhaps the most definite feature of the Hagia Irene is the strict contrast between the interior and exterior design. While the plain outside composed of stone and brick favors functionality, the interior is decorated in elaborate mosaics, decorative marble, and, in some places, covered in plaster. Another important characteristic of the church include two domes that follow one behind another,
3375-675: The Nea Ekklesia (both no longer existent) served as a model for most cross-in-square sanctuaries of the period, including the Cattolica di Stilo in southern Italy (9th century), the monastery church of Hosios Lukas in Greece (c. 1000), Nea Moni of Chios (a pet project of Constantine IX ), and the Daphni Monastery near Athens (c. 1050). All three of the later churches display the important shifts in architectural design that occurred following
3500-544: The Cannes Film Festival ). Also some artists wrote songs dedicated to the Romanian language. The multi-platinum pop trio O-Zone (originally from Moldova) released a song called "Nu mă las de limba noastră" ("I won't forsake our language"). The final verse of this song, "Eu nu mă las de limba noastră, de limba noastră cea română" , is translated in English as "I won't forsake our language, our Romanian language". Also,
3625-540: The Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled in 2013 that "the official language of Moldova is Romanian". On 16 March 2023, the Moldovan Parliament approved a law on referring to the national language as Romanian in all legislative texts and the constitution. On 22 March, the president of Moldova, Maia Sandu , promulgated the law. The history of the Romanian language started in the Roman provinces north of
3750-508: The Gothic style . In the same way the Parthenon is the most impressive monument for Classical religion , Hagia Sophia remained the iconic church for Christianity . The temples of these two religions differ substantially from the point of view of their interiors and exteriors. For Classical temples, only the exterior was important, because only the priests entered the interior, where the statue of
3875-566: The Ionic . Composite columns line the principal space of the nave. Ionic columns are used behind them in the side spaces, in a mirror position relative to the Corinthian or Composite orders (as was their fate well into the 19th century, when buildings were designed for the first time with a monumental Ionic order). At Hagia Sophia, though, these are not the standard imperial statements. The columns are filled with foliage in all sorts of variations. In some,
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4000-577: The Jireček Line in Classical antiquity but there are 3 main hypotheses about its exact territory: the autochthony thesis (it developed in left-Danube Dacia only), the discontinuation thesis (it developed in right-Danube provinces only), and the "as-well-as" thesis that supports the language development on both sides of the Danube. Between the 6th and 8th century, following the accumulated tendencies inherited from
4125-459: The Romanian Academy . The third phase of the modern age of Romanian language, starting from 1880 and continuing to this day, is characterized by the prevalence of the supradialectal form of the language, standardized with the express contribution of the school system and Romanian Academy, bringing a close to the process of literary language modernization and development of literary styles. It
4250-596: The Umayyad Caliphate era (661-750), as far as the Byzantine impact on early Islamic architecture is concerned, the Byzantine arts formed a fundamental source to the new Muslim artistic heritage, especially in Syria. There are considerable Byzantine influences which can be detected in the distinctive early Islamic monuments in Syria (709–715). While these give clear reference in plan - and somewhat in decoration - to Byzantine art,
4375-542: The Vulgar Latin spoken in the Roman provinces of Southeastern Europe north of the Jireček Line (a hypothetical boundary between the dominance of Latin and Greek influences). Most scholars agree that two major dialects developed from Common Romanian by the 10th century. Daco-Romanian (the official language of Romania and Moldova) and Istro-Romanian (a language spoken by no more than 2,000 people in Istria ) descended from
4500-522: The dosseret required to carry the arch , the springing of which was much wider than the abacus of the column. On eastern columns the eagle, the lion and the lamb are occasionally carved, but treated conventionally. There are two types of columns used at Hagia Sophia : Composite and Ionic. The Composite column that emerged during the Late Byzantine Empire , mainly in Rome, combines the Corinthian with
4625-413: The solea , a raised walkway enclosed by a railing or low wall. The continuous influence from the East is widely shown in the fashion of decorating external brick walls of churches built about the 12th century, in which bricks roughly carved into form are set up so as to make bands of ornamentation which it is quite clear are imitated from Cufic writing. This fashion was associated with the disposition of
4750-435: The unification of Moldavia and Wallachia further studies on the language were made, culminating with the founding of Societatea Literară Română on 1 April 1866 on the initiative of C. A. Rosetti , an academic society that had the purpose of standardizing the orthography, formalizing the grammar and (via a dictionary) vocabulary of the language, and promoting literary and scientific publications. This institution later became
4875-486: The "liberty to teach in the mother language (Romanian language)". At the same time, Romanian-language newspapers and journals began to appear, such as Basarabia (1906), Viața Basarabiei (1907), Moldovanul (1907), Luminătorul (1908), Cuvînt moldovenesc (1913), Glasul Basarabiei (1913). From 1913, the synod permitted that "the churches in Bessarabia use the Romanian language". Romanian finally became
5000-479: The 16th century, by various foreign travelers into the Carpathian Romance-speaking space, as well as in other historical documents written in Romanian at that time such as Cronicile Țării Moldovei [ ro ] ( The Chronicles of the land of Moldova ) by Grigore Ureche . The few allusions to the use of Romanian in writing as well as common words, anthroponyms, and toponyms preserved in
5125-653: The 20th century was the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade . One of the less famous Byzantine churches is Hagia Irene . This church served as a model church for the more famous church, Hagia Sophia. Construction on the church began in the 4th century. This was the first church that was built in Constantinople, but due to its location, it was severely damaged by earthquakes and the Nika riots, and required repair several times. The Hagia Irene
Timișoara Orthodox Cathedral - Misplaced Pages Continue
5250-515: The 4th century as a cylindrical domed structure built on a square base, and the noble Church of Saint George , Thessaloniki (5th century), or by a vaulted aisle, as at Santa Costanza , Rome (4th century); or annexes were thrown out from the central space in such a way as to form a cross, in which these additions helped to counterpoise the central vault, as at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia , Ravenna (5th century). The most famous church of this type
5375-590: The 6th and 16th century, entire stages from its history are re-constructed by researchers, often with proposed relative chronologies and loose limits. From the 12th or 13th century, official documents and religious texts were written in Old Church Slavonic , a language that had a similar role to Medieval Latin in Western Europe. The oldest dated text in Romanian is a letter written in 1521 with Cyrillic letters , and until late 18th century, including during
5500-609: The 7th century and provide a glimpse on architectural developments in the Byzantine provinces following the age of Justinian. Remarkable engineering feats include the 430 m long Sangarius Bridge , the pointed arch of Karamagara Bridge , as well as the dome of the Church of Hagia Sophia . In the Macedonian dynasty , it is presumed that Basil I 's votive church of the Theotokos of the Pharos and
5625-528: The Assembly, the Executive Council and the provincial administrative bodies. The Romanian language and script are officially used in eight municipalities: Alibunar , Bela Crkva ( Biserica Albă ), Žitište ( Sângeorgiu de Bega ), Zrenjanin ( Becicherecu Mare ), Kovačica ( Covăcița ), Kovin ( Cuvin ), Plandište ( Plandiște ) and Sečanj ( Seceani ). In the municipality of Vršac ( Vârșeț ), Romanian
5750-557: The Byzantine architecture persisted even longer, from the 16th up to the 18th centuries, giving birth to local post-Byzantine schools of architecture. Neo-Byzantine architecture was followed in the wake of the 19th-century Gothic revival , resulting in such jewels as Westminster Cathedral in London , and in Bristol from about 1850 to 1880 a related style known as Bristol Byzantine was popular for industrial buildings which combined elements of
5875-750: The Byzantine style with Moorish architecture. It was developed on a wide-scale basis in Russia during the reign of Alexander II by Grigory Gagarin and his followers who designed St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv, St Nicholas Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt , Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia , Saint Mark's church in Belgrade and the New Athos Monastery in New Athos near Sukhumi . The largest Neo-Byzantine project of
6000-413: The Cyrillic script, and the Latin script as stipulated by the law, the Croat , Hungarian , Slovak , Romanian and Rusyn languages and their scripts, as well as languages and scripts of other nationalities, shall simultaneously be officially used in the work of the bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in the manner established by the law. The bodies of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina are:
6125-457: The Emperor Justinian I 's reign and survive in Ravenna and Istanbul, as well as in Sofia (the Church of St Sophia ). One of the great breakthroughs in the history of Western architecture occurred when Justinian's architects invented a complex system providing for a smooth transition from a square plan of the church to a circular dome (or domes) by means of pendentives . In Ravenna, the longitudinal basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo , and
6250-639: The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to canonize Joseph the New, as well as to relocate his relics from the church of the Partoș Monastery to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Timișoara. In the basement of the cathedral is the collection of religious art of the Metropolis of Banat. This collection, organized at the initiative of Nicolae Corneanu since 1962, includes objects of ancient religious art from all over Banat. The collection currently holds over 3,000 rare volumes of church books, over 800 religious icons and paintings and over 130 church objects (precious metal artifacts, clothing and ornaments). There
6375-401: The Moldovan autonomies of Gagauzia and Transnistria . Romanian is also an official language of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia along with five other languages. Romanian minorities are encountered in Serbia ( Timok Valley ), Ukraine ( Chernivtsi and Odesa oblasts ), and Hungary ( Gyula ). Large immigrant communities are found in Italy, Spain, France, and Portugal. In 1995,
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#17330857920396500-449: The Moldovan musicians Doina and Ion Aldea Teodorovici performed a song called "The Romanian language". Romanian is also called Daco-Romanian in comparative linguistics to distinguish from the other dialects of Common Romanian : Aromanian , Megleno-Romanian , and Istro-Romanian . The origin of the term "Daco-Romanian" can be traced back to the first printed book of Romanian grammar in 1780, by Samuil Micu and Gheorghe Șincai . There,
6625-401: The Old Church Slavonic religious writings and chancellery documents, attested prior to the 16th century, along with the analysis of graphemes show that the writing of Romanian with the Cyrillic alphabet started in the second half of the 15th century. The oldest extant document in Romanian precisely dated is Neacșu's letter (1521) and was written using the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet , which
6750-455: The Ottoman Empire sieged the Byzantine capital. After the fall of Constantinople, the church was used by the Muslims for their religious services until 1931, when it was reopened as a museum in 1935. Translated from Greek , the name Hagia Sophia means "Holy Wisdom". The construction is a combination of longitudinal and central structures. This church was a part of a larger complex of buildings created by Emperor Justinian . This style influenced
6875-434: The Paleologan architects never accented the vertical thrust of structures. As a result, the late medieval architecture of Byzantium (barring the Hagia Sophia of Trebizond ) is less prominent in height. The Church of the Holy Apostles (Thessaloniki) is cited as an archetypal structure of the late period with its exterior walls intricately decorated with complex brickwork patterns or with glazed ceramics. Other churches from
7000-440: The Romanian dialect spoken north of the Danube is called lingua Daco-Romana to emphasize its origin and its area of use, which includes the former Roman province of Dacia , although it is spoken also south of the Danube, in Dobruja , the Timok Valley and northern Bulgaria. This article deals with the Romanian (i.e. Daco-Romanian) language, and thus only its dialectal variations are discussed here. The differences between
7125-724: The Romanian language. Examples of Romanian acts that had a great success in non-Romanophone countries are the bands O-Zone (with their No. 1 single Dragostea Din Tei , also known as Numa Numa , across the world in 2003–2004), Akcent (popular in the Netherlands, Poland and other European countries), Activ (successful in some Eastern European countries), DJ Project (popular as clubbing music) SunStroke Project (known by viral video " Epic Sax Guy ") and Alexandra Stan (worldwide no.1 hit with " Mr. Saxobeat ") and Inna as well as high-rated movies like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days , The Death of Mr. Lazarescu , 12:08 East of Bucharest or California Dreamin' (all of them with awards at
7250-426: The Romanian neuter became a mixture of masculine and feminine. The verb morphology of Romanian has shown the same move towards a compound perfect and future tense as the other Romance languages. Compared with the other Romance languages , during its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin tense system. Romanian is spoken mostly in Central , South-Eastern , and Eastern Europe , although speakers of
7375-465: The altar was situated, from the body of the church; this screen, bearing images, is the iconostasis . The altar was protected by a canopy or ciborium resting on pillars. Rows of rising seats around the curve of the apse with the patriarch 's throne at the middle eastern point formed the synthronon. The two smaller compartments and apses at the sides of the bema were sacristies, the diaconicon and prothesis . The ambo and bema were connected by
7500-447: The beginning of devoicing of asyllabic [u] after consonants. Text analysis revealed words that are now lost from modern vocabulary or used only in local varieties. These words were of various provenience for example: Latin ( cure - to run, mâneca - to leave), Old Church Slavonic ( drăghicame - gem, precious stone, prilăsti - to trick, to cheat), Hungarian ( bizăntui - to bear witness). The modern age of Romanian starts in 1780 with
7625-557: The cathedral is supported by six large marble columns, each placed on a square pedestal. The entrance to the church is made through three massive doors in two wings, carved both outside and inside. There are also entrance doors on the sides, also carved. The entrance doors, the rows of chairs and the entire furniture along the sides of the naos and pronaos are the works of the sculptor Traian Novac. The interior decorations (pilasters, capitals, friezes, railings, frames, cases, etc.) were made by Ioan Cristescu's company from Bucharest. The floor of
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#17330857920397750-457: The cathedral owes its monumentality to the height of its middle dome – the dome of the Pantocrator (the Almighty). 52 meters high on the inside and 83 meters high on the outside, the middle dome is surmounted by a 7-meter-high cross and sustained by 10 decorative chains and golden buckles. At one point, the building was the third tallest in the country, after Casa Scânteii (104 m) and the People's House (84 m), both located in Bucharest . Due to
7875-411: The cathedral, but only one of them exploded, causing significant but limited damage. The interior and exterior painting was finished only in 1956, due to World War II and the difficult period that followed. The building's style is neo-Moldavian , based on Romanian Orthodox, late Renaissance , Ottoman and Byzantine architecture elements, such as niches under the eaves , ribbed star vaulting in
8000-433: The central one has a height of 90.5 m, making it the second tallest church in Romania, after the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest . The cathedral is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments . The history of the cathedral is closely linked to the year 1919, when, on 28 July, Banat was united with Romania. The new Romanian administration took a series of measures to encourage Orthodoxy , neglected by
8125-403: The centralization of power from Rome in the west to Constantinople in the east, and was considered the high-point of religious and political celebration. The construction of the final version of the Hagia Sophia, which still stands today, was overseen by Emperor Justinian. Between the rule of these two Emperors, Hagia Sophia was destroyed and rebuilt twice. Following its reconstruction, Hagia Sophia
8250-433: The church made of mosaic tiles combines the style and color of the Banat carpets, being executed according to the sketches of the painter Catul Bogdan [ ro ] . The cathedral houses the relics of Joseph the New, considered the protector of the Romanian Orthodox in Banat, former Orthodox bishop of Timișoara (1651–1655), who came from Mount Athos and then retreated to the Partoș Monastery . On 25 February 1950,
8375-461: The churches and basilicas have high-riding domes, which created vast open spaces at the centers of churches, thereby heightening the light. The round arch is a fundamental of Byzantine style. Magnificent golden mosaics with their graphic simplicity brought light and warmth into the heart of churches. Byzantine capitals break away from the Classical conventions of ancient Greece and Rome with sinuous lines and naturalistic forms, which are precursors to
8500-412: The circular, or central, type, represented by the great octagonal church once at Antioch . Those of the latter type we must suppose were nearly always vaulted , for a central dome would seem to furnish their very purpose. The central space was sometimes surrounded by a very thick wall, in which deep recesses, to the interior, were formed, as at Church of St. George, Sofia , built by the Romans in
8625-422: The colloquial speech and writing. Outside the political arena the language is most often called "Romanian". In the breakaway territory of Transnistria, it is co-official with Ukrainian and Russian. In the 2014 census , out of the 2,804,801 people living in Moldova, 24% (652,394) stated Romanian as their most common language, whereas 56% stated Moldovan. While in the urban centers speakers are split evenly between
8750-522: The columns were also made of marble. Other widely used materials were bricks and stone. Mosaics made of stone or glass tesserae were also elements of interior architecture. Precious wood furniture, like beds, chairs, stools, tables, bookshelves and silver or golden cups with beautiful reliefs, decorated Byzantine interiors. Early Byzantine architecture drew upon earlier elements of Roman and Greek architecture . Stylistic drift , technological advancement , and political and territorial changes meant that
8875-409: The construction of several other buildings, such as St. Peter's Basilica . Hagia Sophia should have been built to withstand earthquakes, but since the construction of Hagia Sophia was rushed this technology was not implemented in the design, which is why the building has had to be repaired so many times due to damages from the earthquakes. The dome is the key feature of Hagia Sophia as the domed basilica
9000-591: The country Moldovan . In December 2013, a decision of the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that the Declaration of Independence took precedence over the Constitution and the state language should be called Romanian. In 2023, the Moldovan parliament passed a law officially adopting the designation "Romanian" in all legal instruments, implementing the 2013 court decision. Scholars agree that Moldovan and Romanian are
9125-595: The crossroads of the most important arteries of the city, was donated by the City Hall, and the project of the church was entrusted since 1934 to the architect Ion Trajanescu [ ro ] . The project provided for a building with a capacity of 5,000 people. The City Hall provided all the bricks free of charge, and the Reșița Steel Works made a 30% discount on the purchase price of 330 tons of iron. The actual construction began on 16 March 1936. On 20 December of
9250-417: The decoration of important public structures, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration, complex domes rested upon massive piers , and windows filtered light through thin sheets of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors. Most of the surviving structures are sacred, with secular buildings having been destroyed. Prime examples of early Byzantine architecture date from
9375-402: The deity to whom the temple was dedicated was kept. The ceremonies were held outside, in front of the temple. Instead, Christian liturgies were held inside the churches. Byzantine columns are quite varied, mostly developing from the classical Corinthian , with the ornamentation undercut with drills, and fluted shafts almost entirely abandoned. The block of stone was left rough as it came from
9500-469: The development of printing, the same alphabet was used. The period after 1780, starting with the writing of its first grammar books, represents the modern age of the language, during which time the Latin alphabet became official, the literary language was standardized, and a large number of words from Modern Latin and other Romance languages entered the lexis. In the process of language evolution from fewer than 2500 attested words from Late Antiquity to
9625-510: The differences as 'accents' or 'speeches' (in Romanian: accent or grai ). Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire , or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium , which became Constantinople , until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. There
9750-453: The dome was included in a considerably larger square, of which the four divisions, to the east, west, north and south, were carried up higher in the vaulting and roof system than the four corners, forming in this way a sort of nave and transepts . Sometimes the central space was square, sometimes octagonal, or at least there were eight piers supporting the dome instead of four, and the nave and transepts were narrower in proportion. If we draw
9875-494: The dome, it is supported by vaulted aisles in two stories which bring the exterior form to a general square. At the Holy Apostles (6th century) five domes were applied to a cruciform plan; the central dome was the highest. After the 6th century there were no churches built which in any way competed in scale with these great works of Justinian, and the plans more or less tended to approximate to one type. The central area covered by
10000-567: The end of Iconoclasm, when architectural design and decoration became more standardized. The Hagia Sophia church in Ochrid (present-day North Macedonia ), built in the First Bulgarian Empire in the time of Boris I of Bulgaria , and eponymous cathedral in Kyiv (present-day Ukraine ) testify to a vogue for multiple subsidiary domes set on drums, which would gain in height and narrowness with
10125-448: The exterior brick and stone work generally into many varieties of pattern, zig-zags, key-patterns etc.; and, as similar decoration is found in many Persian buildings, it is probable that this custom also was derived from the East. The domes and vaults to the exterior were covered with lead or with tiling of regional variety. The window and door frames were of marble . The interior surfaces were adorned all over by mosaics or frescoes in
10250-413: The first Romanian school, and Ion Heliade Rădulescu . The end of this period is marked by the first printing of magazines and newspapers in Romanian, in particular Curierul Românesc and Albina Românească . Starting from 1831 and lasting until 1880 the modern phase is characterized by the development of literary styles: scientific, administrative, and belletristic . It quickly reached a high point with
10375-454: The first being a lower oval, and the second being a higher semi-circle. Throughout history Hagia Irene has undergone several changes. There were multiple repairs due to the Nika riots and earthquakes. When the Ottomans took over Hagia Irene they repurposed it and made a few changes, but none as drastic as what was done to Hagia Sophia. Today, Hagia Irene is still standing and open to visitors as
10500-473: The gradual development of bilingualism . Russian continued to develop as the official language of privilege, whereas Romanian remained the principal vernacular. The period from 1905 to 1917 was one of increasing linguistic conflict spurred by an increase in Romanian nationalism. In 1905 and 1906, the Bessarabian zemstva asked for the re-introduction of Romanian in schools as a "compulsory language", and
10625-508: The higher parts of the edifice, and below with incrustations of marble slabs, which were frequently of very beautiful varieties, and disposed so that, although in one surface, the coloring formed a series of large panels. The better marbles were opened out so that the two surfaces produced by the division formed a symmetrical pattern. Ultimately, Byzantine architecture in the West gave way to Carolingian , Romanesque , and Gothic architecture . But
10750-592: The influence of the Mukacheve eparchy in Ukraine. The language spoken during this period had a phonological system of seven vowels and twenty-nine consonants. Particular to Old Romanian are the distribution of /z/, as the allophone of /dz/ from Common Romanian , in the Wallachian and south-east Transylvanian varieties, the presence of palatal sonorants /ʎ/ and /ɲ/, nowadays preserved only regionally in Banat and Oltenia , and
10875-481: The interior and lacquered discs in a variety of colors. Such elements can be found in the old Cozia and Prislop monasteries, typical for the 14th century. The church is a fortunate "head of perspective" of the Victory Square in front of it. The style of the building is not entirely extraneous to the 1900s architecture in the square, also characterized by the ample play of roofs. 63 meters long and 32 meters wide,
11000-460: The language and use of the demonym Romanians ( Români ) for speakers of this language predates the foundation of the modern Romanian state. Romanians always used the general term rumân / român or regional terms like ardeleni (or ungureni ), moldoveni or munteni to designate themselves. Both the name of rumână or rumâniască for the Romanian language and the self-designation rumân/român are attested as early as
11125-556: The language can be found all over the world, mostly due to emigration of Romanian nationals and the return of immigrants to Romania back to their original countries. Romanian speakers account for 0.5% of the world's population, and 4% of the Romance-speaking population of the world. Romanian is the single official and national language in Romania and Moldova, although it shares the official status at regional level with other languages in
11250-531: The language, working together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department for Romanians Abroad. Since 2013, the Romanian Language Day is celebrated on every 31 August . Romanian is the official language of the Republic of Moldova. The 1991 Declaration of Independence named the official language Romanian, and the Constitution of Moldova as originally adopted in 1994 named the state language of
11375-592: The largest Romanian-speaking community in the Middle East was found in Israel, where Romanian was spoken by 5% of the population. Romanian is also spoken as a second language by people from Arabic-speaking countries who have studied in Romania. It is estimated that almost half a million Middle Eastern Arabs studied in Romania during the 1980s. Small Romanian-speaking communities are to be found in Kazakhstan and Russia. Romanian
11500-600: The late 15th century and ended in the early decades of the 18th century, by which time Romanian had begun to be regularly used by the Church. The oldest Romanian texts of a literary nature are religious manuscripts ( Codicele Voronețean , Psaltirea Scheiană ), translations of essential Christian texts. These are considered either propagandistic results of confessional rivalries, for instance between Lutheranism and Calvinism , or as initiatives by Romanian monks stationed at Peri Monastery in Maramureș to distance themselves from
11625-463: The marshy terrain, the cathedral stands on a concrete slab supported by 1,186 reinforced concrete pillars, driven at a depth of 20 m. The built area is 1,542 m, while the total construction volume is about 50,000 m. The seven bells, cast in Anton Novotny's workshop, have a total weight of 7,000 kg and were made of an alloy of metals brought from Indonesia ( Sumatra and Borneo ). Their harmonization
11750-519: The media regarding the forgery of the census results. The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia determines that in the regions of the Republic of Serbia inhabited by national minorities, their own languages and scripts shall be officially used as well, in the manner established by law. The Statute of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina determines that, together with the Serbian language and
11875-576: The middle of the facade is a mosaic icon of the cathedral's patrons, the Three Holy Hierarchs . Maria Laurenția Minulescu, the daughter of the poet Ion Minulescu , executed this 5.25-square-meter mosaic. The towers are covered with glazed tiles, made in Jimbolia , which contain the colors of the national flag (red, yellow, blue) on a green background. At the top of the towers are six crosses, three miters and six "heads" of crosses. The crosses were made by Iacob Schwab's company from Timișoara. The open hallway of
12000-675: The new capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) rather than the city of Rome and its environs. Its architecture dramatically influenced the later medieval architecture throughout Europe and the Near East. When the Roman Empire became Christian (after having extended eastwards) with its new capital at Constantinople , its architecture became more sensuous and ambitious. This new style with exotic domes and richer mosaics would come to be known as "Byzantine" before it traveled west to Ravenna and Venice and as far north as Moscow . Most of
12125-409: The northern dialect. Two other languages, Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian , developed from the southern version of Common Romanian. These two languages are now spoken in lands to the south of the Jireček Line . Of the features that individualize Common Romanian, inherited from Latin or subsequently developed, of particular importance are: The use of the denomination Romanian ( română ) for
12250-402: The octagon. Finally, at Hagia Sophia (6th century) a combination was made which is perhaps the most remarkable piece of planning ever contrived. A central space of 100 ft (30 m) square is increased to 200 ft (60 m) in length by adding two hemicycles to it to the east and the west; these are again extended by pushing out three minor apses eastward, and two others, one on either side of
12375-422: The octagonal, centralized structure of the church of San Vitale , commissioned by Emperor Justinian but never seen by him, was built. Justinian's monuments in Istanbul include the domed churches of Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene (both discussed in more detail below), but there is also an earlier, smaller church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (locally referred to as " Little Hagia Sophia "), which might have served as
12500-475: The official language with the Constitution of 1923 . Romanian has preserved a part of the Latin declension , but whereas Latin had six cases , from a morphological viewpoint, Romanian has only three: the nominative / accusative , genitive / dative , and marginally the vocative . Romanian nouns also preserve the neuter gender , although instead of functioning as a separate gender with its own forms in adjectives,
12625-798: The outskirts of the Byzantine world, as most significant and ancient churches and buildings were in Asia Minor. During World War I , almost all churches that ended up within the Turkish borders were destroyed or converted into mosques. Some were abandoned as a result of the Greek and Christian genocides from 1915 to 1923. Similar styles can be found in countries such as Bulgaria , Croatia , North Macedonia , Russia , Serbia and other Slavic lands, as well as in Sicily ( Cappella Palatina ) and Veneto ( St Mark's Basilica , Torcello Cathedral ). In Middle Byzantine architecture "cloisonné masonry" refers to walls built with
12750-401: The parish of Cetate (the historic center of Timișoara), a fund for the construction of the new church was set up and an appeal was launched to parishioners for donations. In 1936, all the preconditions for starting construction already existed. The financial fund for the building was already collected, although the total amount needed was very high for those times. The necessary land, located at
12875-689: The plan of the Umayyad Mosque has also a remarkable similarity with 6th- and 7th-century Christian basilicas, but it has been modified and expanded on the transversal axis and not on the normal longitudinal axis as in the Christian basilicas. The tile work, geometric patterns, multiple arches, domes, and polychrome brick and stone work that characterize Muslim and Moorish architecture were influenced heavily by Byzantine architecture. In Bulgaria , North Macedonia , Serbia , Romania , Belarus , Georgia , Armenia , Ukraine , Russia and other Orthodox countries
13000-668: The previous Austro-Hungarian administration, which was only favorable to the Catholic religion . Thus, the Bishopric of Timișoara was created, elevated to the rank of archbishopric in 1939, and in 1947 the Metropolis of Banat was established. There was an obvious need to build a new place of worship, commensurate with the Orthodox community in Timișoara and the Romanian Banat. At the initiative of
13125-480: The printing in 1780 of Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae , the pre-modern phase was characterized by the publishing of school textbooks, appearance of first normative works in Romanian, numerous translations, and the beginning of a conscious stage of re-latinization of the language. Notable contributions, besides that of the Transylvanian School , are the activities of Gheorghe Lazăr , founder of
13250-655: The printing in Vienna of a very important grammar book titled Elementa linguae daco-romanae sive valachicae . The author of the book, Samuil Micu-Klein , and the revisor, Gheorghe Șincai , both members of the Transylvanian School , chose to use Latin as the language of the text and presented the phonetical and grammatical features of Romanian in comparison to its ancestor. The Modern age of Romanian language can be further divided into three phases: pre-modern or modernizing between 1780 and 1830, modern phase between 1831 and 1880, and contemporary from 1880 onwards. Beginning with
13375-518: The printing of Dacia Literară , a journal founded by Mihail Kogălniceanu and representing a literary society, which together with other publications like Propășirea and Gazeta de Transilvania spread the ideas of Romantic nationalism and later contributed to the formation of other societies that took part in the Revolutions of 1848 . Their members and those that shared their views are collectively known in Romania as "of '48"( pașoptiști ),
13500-677: The progress of time. In Istanbul and Asia Minor the architecture of the Komnenian period is almost non-existent, with the notable exceptions of the Elmali Kilise and other rock sanctuaries of Cappadocia , and of the Churches of the Pantokrator and of the Theotokos Kyriotissa in Istanbul. Most examples of this architectural style and many of the other older Byzantine styles only survive on
13625-723: The quarry, and the sculptor evolved new designs to his own fancy, so that one rarely meets with many repetitions of the same design. One of the most remarkable designs features leaves carved as if blown by the wind; the finest example being at the 7th-century Hagia Sophia (Thessaloniki) . Those in the Cathedral of Saint Mark, Venice (1071) specially attracted John Ruskin 's fancy. Others appear in Sant'Apollinare in Classe , Ravenna (549). The column in San Vitale, Ravenna (547) shows above it
13750-472: The regional varieties are small, limited to regular phonetic changes, few grammar aspects, and lexical particularities. There is a single written and spoken standard (literary) Romanian language used by all speakers, regardless of region. Like most natural languages, Romanian dialects are part of a dialect continuum . The dialects of Romanian are also referred to as 'sub-dialects' and are distinguished primarily by phonetic differences. Romanians themselves speak of
13875-543: The same language, with the glottonym "Moldovan" used in certain political contexts. It has been the sole official language since the adoption of the Law on State Language of the Moldavian SSR in 1989. This law mandates the use of Moldovan in all the political, economic, cultural and social spheres, as well as asserting the existence of a "linguistic Moldo-Romanian identity". It is also used in schools, mass media, education and in
14000-459: The same year, a solemn service was held, laying the foundation stone of the future cathedral (which was consecrated by Bishop Andrei Magieru of Arad ). The execution of the construction works was done by Tiberiu Eremia's company from Bucharest. The church bells and crosses were consecrated on 23 August 1938. The final reception of the construction works took place on 9 July 1940, and the parish council approved this reception on 24 July. The cathedral
14125-478: The shape of a cross, the interior being divided into narthex , pronaos , naos and altar . On either side of the pronaos are the side galleries. Above the awning, towards the pronaos, is the balcony of the choir, which can accommodate 150 people. The interior of the cathedral is illuminated by 16 windows in the main dome and 30 side windows. The exterior walls of the church are clad in apparent red and yellow-orange brick, as well as glazed discs and painted niches. In
14250-456: The small, lush leaves appear to be caught up in the spinning of the scrolls – clearly, a different, nonclassical sensibility has taken over the design. The columns at Basilica of San Vitale show wavy and delicate floral patterns similar to decorations found on belt buckles and dagger blades. Their inverted pyramidal form has the look of a basket. Buildings increased in geometric complexity , brick and plaster were used in addition to stone in
14375-473: The two names (with the capital Chișinău showing a strong preference for the name "Romanian", i.e. 3:2), in the countryside hardly a quarter of Romanian/Moldovan speakers indicated Romanian as their native language. Unofficial results of this census first showed a stronger preference for the name Romanian, however the initial reports were later dismissed by the Institute for Statistics, which led to speculations in
14500-546: The unrecognised state of Transnistria , Moldovan is one of the official languages. However, unlike all other dialects of Romanian, this variety of Moldovan is written in Cyrillic script . Romanian is taught in some areas that have Romanian minority communities, such as Vojvodina in Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Hungary. The Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) has since 1992 organised summer courses in Romanian for language teachers. There are also non-Romanians who study Romanian as
14625-428: The use of Romanian in official government publications, public education and legal contracts. Advertisements as well as other public messages must bear a translation of foreign words, while trade signs and logos shall be written predominantly in Romanian. The Romanian Language Institute (Institutul Limbii Române), established by the Ministry of Education of Romania, promotes Romanian and supports people willing to study
14750-537: The vernacular spoken in this large area and, to a much smaller degree, the influences from native dialects , and in the context of a lessened power of the Roman central authority the language evolved into Common Romanian . This proto-language then came into close contact with the Slavic languages and subsequently divided into Aromanian , Megleno-Romanian , Istro-Romanian , and Daco-Romanian. Due to limited attestation between
14875-621: The years immediately predating the fall of Constantinople survive on Mount Athos and in Mistra (e.g. Brontochion Monastery ). That site also has preserved secular architecture such as the Palace of the Despots and several houses. In the late Byzantine period, c. 1310, a highly ornate parekklesion was added to the Pammakaristos Church in Constantinople for the tomb of Michael Glabas Tarchaniotes,
15000-496: Was done by the composer Sabin Drăgoi . The interior and exterior painting was executed by a group of painters led by the painter Anastase Demian . The iconostasis was carved and gilded in 22-carat gold by master Ștefan Gajo, who also made the three chandeliers, the two candlesticks and the Lord's Tomb (located in the pronaos). The plan shape of the cathedral is the typical Byzantine one, in
15125-553: Was inaugurated on 6 October 1946 in the presence of King Michael I , Prime Minister Petru Groza , Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu , Bishop of Timișoara Vasile Lăzărescu [ ro ] , Metropolitan of Transylvania Nicolae Bălan and representatives of other cults, led by Roman Catholic bishop Augustin Pacha and Greek Catholic bishop Ioan Bălan . During World War II , after Romania turned its weapons against Germany, German aircraft bombed Timișoara (30–31 October 1944). Six bombs fell on
15250-498: Was initially no hard line between the Byzantine and Roman Empires, and early Byzantine architecture is stylistically and structurally indistinguishable from late Roman architecture . The style continued to be based on arches, vaults and domes, often on a large scale. Wall mosaics with gold backgrounds became standard for the grandest buildings, with frescos a cheaper alternative. The richest interiors were finished with thin plates of marble or coloured and patterned stone. Some of
15375-477: Was published in Vienna in 1780. Following the annexation of Bessarabia by Russia in 1812, Moldavian was established as an official language in the governmental institutions of Bessarabia , used along with Russian, The publishing works established by Archbishop Gavril Bănulescu-Bodoni were able to produce books and liturgical works in Moldavian between 1815 and 1820. Bessarabia during the 1812–1918 era witnessed
15500-459: Was that of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople . Vaults appear to have been early applied to the basilican type of plan; for instance, at Hagia Irene , Constantinople (6th century), the long body of the church is covered by two domes. At Saint Sergius , Constantinople, and San Vitale, Ravenna, churches of the central type, the space under the dome was enlarged by having apsidal additions made to
15625-470: Was used until the late 19th century. The letter is the oldest testimony of Romanian epistolary style and uses a prevalent lexis of Latin origin. However, dating by watermarks has shown the Hurmuzaki Psalter is a copy from around the turn of the 16th century. The slow process of Romanian establishing itself as an official language, used in the public sphere, in literature and ecclesiastically, began in
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