A Nomadic Cathedral

In the history of Romanian architecture, I don’t think there’s a project that has “wandered” more than the one for the National Cathedral. The causes span the entire spectrum of human frailties, from ill will and Dâmbovița-style politicking to armed conflicts. Millennia of experience show us that a cathedral takes a long time to build and is difficult to complete—the Sagrada Familia—or may never be completed at all—Notre Dame. This delay is due to the execution of the project and has nothing to do with the decision itself. In the case of our Cathedral, it is the decision-making process that has taken so long, whereas the actual construction seems to be on schedule. The history of its journey is not limited to the contemporary period of the 2000s, but begins right from the moment the idea of a National Cathedral first emerged. After the War of Independence, Carol I observed that none of the more than 100 churches in the capital had the capacity to host solemn ceremonies on the occas