Day Isn't Like Night

It's no great discovery and no great philosophy to find that day is not like night. It's a paraphrase of a famous saying in Romania, when a former president of the country said that "Winter is not like summer", wanting to emphasize that winter is normal to be cold.

I meant something else, of course. In fact, I really want to show that it is so, that day is not like night, starting from a post of mine about Patriarchal Hill in Bucharest. An architectural and historical complex that I visited and photographed at night. For comparison, here you can see Patriarchal Hill at night. That is, I want to show how different the same place looks during the day.

The day wasn't quite a day, it was near dusk and that shows in the photos and I think that leaves room for the third post with images taken in the morning or midday, I think I'd like to do that.

So, the Patriarchal Hill in Bucharest in the light of dusk.

In the previous post, we looked at the architectural aspect and how it was enhanced by the lighting of the buildings, how light and dark managed to highlight certain parts and hide others. Basically, if you see the place only at night you can't consider that you have seen everything, that you have understood everything and I am fascinated by this difference brought about by external causes and not related to the shape of the monuments and buildings, which is unchanged but is perceived differently.

Now I want to show this place not so much from an architectural perspective, from an architectural interest, but especially from the perspective of a traveler, a tourist visiting Bucharest. For this reason I will post in Haveyoubeenhere and not in Architecture+Design, as I did with the previous post, Patriarchal Hill.

These two communities go very well together, the interests are often similar and, at least for me, it is often hard to choose which one to post in.

I'm done with these personal thoughts and opinions and I'm off on my journey, chronologically following my walk in this special place in my city, one of the few that has remained unchanged in the hundreds of years that have passed over it. Beyond the historical changes, the political regime, and the trials and tribulations it has gone through over time, from earthquakes to the world wars of the last century.

So, the Patriarchal Hill in Bucharest in the light of dusk.

To better point out the location, I will say that it is very close to Union Square, a very famous and crowded place in Bucharest. People and cars everywhere, luckily with this square and its fountains, which also leave room for walking.

From this square, there are numerous exits, on different streets, in all directions. All equally crowded with hurried people and nervous cars, except one... Whoever chooses to walk that way will quickly and easily enter another world In the distance, you can see the Patriarchal Church towers!

It's a short alley that takes us on a journey through time, leaving the twelfth century and stepping into centuries-long gone (of course, if we ignore the cars parked everywhere).

I followed this path myself, following a family of a provincial priest who came to the Patriarch's church to pray and, of course, to visit and explain more easily to his children about the Orthodox Christian religion. Because here is the center of the majority religion of the Romanians, here is the church where the Patriarch conducts the religious service, and here is the Patriarchal Palace, where the Patriarch lives. The Patriarch is the head of the Church, he is a kind of king over the faithful, and everything is done according to the old laws of the Middle Ages.

Arriving on the plateau near the church, I let the priest continue his visit and I started my visit and search for the most interesting pictures to take.

Since the church is the most important and most spectacular objective I will present later, it remains now to see and show what is next to the church.

Such as where candles are lit. These candles are lit by the faithful for both the dead and the living. The lit candle means light, it means resurrection. Christianity believes in the resurrection of the dead... once... when? No one knows, obviously. Anyway, to be resurrected you must first die, so things are complicated and delayed...

Another important building is the Residence of the Patriarch, actually a small palace where the Patriarch lives and works. Because there is an old rule of many hundreds of years that says that the Patriarch must not and cannot go to certain meetings, because he must not leave this place and, in this case, all meetings and discussions with various politicians or high prelates take place only in this palace, at his residence.

From the balcony of the palace the Patriarch sees how the largest church in the country, called the cathedral of the nation, is being built. It will be a huge building, located next to the parliament building. The parliament building is the largest building in Romania, the largest building in Europe, the second-largest building in the world, after the Pentagon building. Crazy! Something huge for a country the size of Romania. A pharaonic dream of the last communist leader of Romania who never saw it completed because he died from lead in the firing squad's bullets. An end that almost all dictators in the world have!

Well, our Patriarch is also agitating to finish the construction of the new cathedral before he dies, so that he can remain in posterity as its builder. In fact, he deserves all the credit that this construction exists and is quite close to completion. Now, like the former dictator, the Patriarch also wants something very big and this cathedral will be taller than the parliament building!

This is the residence...

The next historically and architecturally important building is the Patriarchal Palace ( ex Assembly of Deputies, ex the Palace of the Chamber of Deputies ). This is a newer building, built in 1907 on the site of the Assembly of Deputies, built after 1800. They were a kind of precursor of today's parliaments, with the discriminations of the times ( i.e. this Chamber of Deputies was made up only of landlords.)

Here was approved the union of the two Romanian provinces, the Romanian Country and Moldova and thus Romania was formed.

After the construction of the new parliament, this building became the property of the Romanian Patriarchate and was used as a conference center and administrative building. A building of a special beauty, which can be visited by those who wish.

This is a very large building and I couldn't frame it enough to get it all in the photo.

The most beautiful monument is, of course, the Patriarchal Church! It is a historical monument but it is still the main church of the Patriarchate until the work on the Cathedral of the Nation is finished. It was built in 1650 and has been restored several times over the years, the current form no longer resembles the original image.

This is a church permanently open to the faithful and the place where the Patriarch holds religious services on major feasts. The interior decoration is particularly beautiful and shiny, as the Orthodox love gold, or at least the shine of it, it seems.

The historical importance is undeniable, the architectural importance is great for a country with not too many monuments but there is also spiritual importance. Romania is a Christian Orthodox country with many believers, especially women. We see them all the time in this place, often to ask advice from priests or nuns.

This was the walk and visit to this place, located on the only hill in Bucharest. A place steeped in history and religion. I reluctantly left this complex and will come again to visit the museum.

In ten minutes we were back in the crowded city, back in the twenty-first century. Not happily, though.

I tried to present a place worth visiting in Bucharest. If one arrives in Piata Unirii it would be a big mistake not to spend an hour on the hill of the Romanian Patriarchy.