Curtea de Argeș Cathedral 4.93

The Cathedral of Curtea de Argeș is a Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. It is located on the grounds of the Curtea de Argeș Monastery, and is dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The building is the seat of the Archdiocese of Argeș and Muscel.The cathedral is faced with pale grey limestone, which was easily chiselled then hardened on exposure. The interior is of brick, plastered and decorated with frescoes. Nearby on the grounds stands a large Moorish-style royal palace.ArchitectureThe building resembles a very large and elaborate mausoleum, and was built in the Byzantine architectural style, with Moorish arabesques. The cathedral sits upon a raised platform, 7ft above the surrounding grade, and encircled by a stone balustrade. In shape the structure is oblong, with a many-sided annex at the back. A dome rises in the center, fronted by two smaller twisting and leaning cupolas, while a secondary dome, broader and loftier than the central one, springs from the annex. Each summit is crowned by an inverted pear-shaped stone, bearing a triple cross, emblematic of the Trinity.The windows are mere slits; those of the tambours (the cylinders on which the cupolas rest) are curved and slant at an angle of 70 degrees, as though the tambours were leaning to one side.