Darvari Skete

The Icoanei Church (Romanian: Biserica Icoanei) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 12 Icoanei Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The church derives its name from a 1682 icon that mentions a wooden church which, according to Nicolae Iorga, was built by Ceauș (messenger) David Corbea, whom Constantin Brâncoveanu sent as emissary to the court of Peter the Great. In its early years, it was thus also known as Ceauș David or Popa Dima, after a priest. In its stead, Mihail Băbeanu, former privy secretary to the Prince of Wallachia, built a domed wooden church surrounded by cells, variously dated to 1745-1750 or 1770. The first masonry church, dedicated to the Trinity, dates to 1784–1786; its ktetor was mercenary captain Panait Băbeanu, nephew of Mihail. As depicted in the votive painting, this church had three domes and a three-lobed plan, and was painted in fresco. Panait added twelve cells for poor widows.Damaged by the 1838 earthquake, the church was restored by Pană Băbeanu, the grandson of Panait, assisted by parishioners. The iconostasis, still in use, dates to 1850. By 1862, the church was in ruins, its funds wasted by Ioniță Băbeanu. In 1873, Elena Băbeanu commissioned a substantial renovation, led by architect Alexandru Orăscu, which gave the building its current form. The 1887-1889 restoration added the portico, redid the domes and enlarged the windows. Under the auspices of another Mihail Băbeanu, the painting was redone in 1889 by a pupil of Gheorghe Tattarescu, covering the old frescoes. In 1928, architect Paul Smărăndescu undertook a thorough renovation, removing the central dome. Consolidation took place after the earthquakes of 1940 and 1977, while work on the iconostasis and painting unfolded in 1967 and 1980. The church was re-sanctified in 1991.The cross-shaped church measures 23 meters long by 9 to 10.8 meters wide; the apses are in slight relief and circular both inside and out. The round Pantocrator dome above the nave has eight windows; the square bell tower above the narthex, aligned with the western facade, has two large windows on each side. The roof is flat, in two halves, terminating in a tympanum at the bell tower base. Entry is through a small open portico with a decorated frieze; it rests on pairs of stone columns. The facade ornamentation is slightly in relief: a cornice with small palmettes underscored by a sawtooth design, floral rosettes placed above the windows, icons of Saints Peter and Paul to the sides of the entrance. The interior windows are colored in pastel tones, with blue predominant. The tin-coated domes are decorated similarly to the facade.The church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. Also listed is the tomb of General Ioan Odobescu. The yard holds several other graves, the earliest being from 1846. The icon of the Virgin Mary, which attracts visitors, is kept before the altar.

A statue of Ion Luca Caragiale, sculpted by Constantin Baraschi, is located on Maria Rosetti Street in central Bucharest, Romania. It is placed in front of the house where the dramatist and short story writer Ion Luca Caragiale once lived. In 1957, Baraschi took part in the contest for the statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, which Communist authorities meant to place in front of the Casa Scînteii, a newly built Socialist Realist structure in northern Bucharest. His bronze sculpture lost the contest to the one designed by Boris Caragea, so Baraschi decided to replace the head of Lenin's statue with that of Caragiale. He was once again refused, because this statue could have been seen as mocking Lenin. However, the statue was bought by the state and, after years of being kept in a courtyard in the Splaiul Independenței area, it was moved to the Cartea Românească Publishing House courtyard from General Berthelot Street, perhaps at the intervention of influential novelist Marin Preda.In 1998, nine years after the 1989 Revolution, the Cartea Românească building was returned to its rightful owner; the Ministry of Culture had to take the statue into its patrimony, and subsequently moved it in front of a house where Caragiale lived once, on Maria Rosetti Street. In 2002, Dinu Săraru, chairman of the National Theatre Bucharest, oversaw the statue's move to a new location on University Square, in front of the Theatre's building. After Săraru resigned from office, on 11 February 2006, it was moved back to Maria Rosetti Street, because the move had not been approved and, as such, was technically illegal. A statue of the major Romanian actor Grigore Vasiliu Birlic, is planned to take its place in University Square.The statue is featured in the foreground of the reverse of the 100 lei banknote, at its old location in front of the old building of the Bucharest National Theatre.

Școala Centrală National College (Romanian: Colegiul Național Școala Centrală; literally, “Central School”) is an institution of primary, secondary, and upper secondary education in Bucharest, Romania. It functioned along the passing of time under many other names, most notably Pensionatul Domnesc de Fete. It serves schooling for classes from 0 to XII grade, that is, from primary school up to high school. During Communism, Școala Centrală was known as Zoia Kosmodeminskaia. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, more specifically in 1994, the school's name was changed to Școala Centrală and bilingual French education was introduced for the classes with both humanist and exact sciences profiles pertaining to high school. The school building, completed in 1890, is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. It was designed by Romanian architect Ion Mincu.

Bucureștioara was a stream which was a tributary of the Dâmbovița River and flowed in Bucharest, Romania. It had its source in a lake which was located in the place where Grădina Icoanei and Ioanid Park are now located, a few hundred metres east of the present-day Piața Romană. Its name is a diminutive of București, the Romanian name of Bucharest. It flowed southward along what is now the Jean-Louis Calderon Street and then through the "Scaune" suburb (mahala), where its waters were used by the butchers (currently, the Hristo Botev Street) and finally it joined the Dâmbovița. The lake was drained in 1873 and the river bed was covered.

Grădina Icoanei ("Icon's Garden") is a small park in central Bucharest, situated not far away from Piața Romană and Bulevardul Magheru. The park, located next to Gheorghe Cantacuzino Plaza in Sector 2 of the city, was inaugurated in 1873. The park has a surface area of 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres) and attracts an average of 1,100 visitors on a weekend day. The Bulandra Theatre (the Toma Caragiu stage, Sala Toma Caragiu), Ioanid Park (now called "Ion Voicu"), the Icoanei Church, and the Anglican Church are located in the park's immediate vicinity. The park is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.

Piața Spaniei ("Spanish Plaza") is a small square in Sector 2, Bucharest, near Park Ioanid and Grădina Icoanei. In the middle of the square there is a bust of Miguel de Cervantes, the famous Spanish writer. The Spanish Plaza lies next to Dacia Boulevard; it is connected to the nearby Gheorghe Cantacuzino Plaza by Dumbrava Roșie Street. The villa built in 1934 by architect Alexandru Săvulescu for General Henri Cihoski lies at the corner of Piața Spaniei with Dacia Boulevard.

The Oțetari Church (Romanian: Biserica Oțetari) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 4 Oțetari Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and to Saint Nicholas. A wooden church was built on the site in 1681, and rebuilt in 1708. The current masonry structure dates to 1757, as attested by the pisanie in the narthex, which mentions the names of several donors. It was at this point that the church received its second patron saint. A document of 1785, issued by Grigorie II Colțea, Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, indicates that the church was built by locals. It was restored in 1860-1866 by Metropolitan Nifon Rusailă with the help of the Hagi Tudorache family, interred inside. During this time, Gheorghe Tattarescu painted the entire interior. Repairs were carried out in 1906 and 1964, while the painting was restored in 1984. The 39 exterior mosaic medallions date to the late 20th century.The church is 24.5 meters long, 7.5 meters wide and 11 meters high. Its shape is trefoil, with an octagonal spire above the nave. The portico has a spherical ceiling atop which sits the square base of the bell tower. Both spires end in a bulb-shaped roof. These as well as the main roof are covered in tin. The closed narthex is decorated with pilasters, facade and three arches. The frieze, slightly in profile, features three mosaics of saints.The church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.

The Anglican Church of the Resurrection is a church located in central Bucharest, Romania, near Grădina Icoanei, at the intersection of Xenopol street and Arthur Verona street. The church is a red brick building and services are held in English on Sundays between 10 and 11 AM.

Batiștei Church (Romanian: Biserica Batiștei) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 21 Batiștei Street, Bucharest, Romania.

The Popa Chițu Church (Romanian: Biserica Popa Chițu) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 33 Logofătul Luca Stroici Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to Saint Spyridon. The first church in the vicinity was attested as of 1789–1791. Surrounded by a graveyard and called Popa Petre after a certain priest, it was severely damaged by the 1802 earthquake, although the ruins were left in place until late in the century. A monument on the site of its altar dates to the 1980s. The current church was built in 1813 by two priests, their wives and the shoemakers’ guild. Initially having a single dome and a shingle roof, it was called either after Popa Petre or Popa Chițu, another priest. Dedicated to Saint Spyridon in 1831, it was damaged by the 1838 quake, which cracked the walls but left the ceiling largely intact.Repairs took place in 1878–1880, when a second dome was added above the narthex, a tin roof was built and the interior was painted. In 1932–1937, while the walls were repaired, Iosif Keber painted frescoes. The mosaic floor, concrete iconostasis with gilt stucco, stained glass and marble panel in the narthex date to that time. The ktetors of this phase are painted on the narthex wall and buried beneath its floor. A thorough restoration of 1975-1980 eliminated mildew, while Keber restored the painting and the exterior was fitted with a row of 91 glass-covered niches painted with saints. The church was re-sanctified in 1980; further upgrades took place in 2001–2003.Situated on a traffic island, the cross-shaped church measures 23.5 meters long by 7.5-11.3 meters wide. It has circular apses and a Pantocrator dome above the nave. The bell tower sits above the narthex. Both domes are octagonal, as are their bases. The western facade ends in a pediment. An open portico sits in front: it features three arches held up by columns of painted masonry, themselves resting on mosaic-coated pedestals as high as the foundation. There are floral patterns between the portico arches, under the main cornice and on the domes. The large windows are semicircular. The interior painting features scenes from the life of Christ; they are done in warm, pale colors, predominantly ocher.The church is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.

The Pitar Moș(u) Church (Romanian: Biserica Pitar Moș) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 16 Pitar Moș Street and at 45 Dionisie Lupu Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos. The church is located on the site of an earlier wooden church, called Popa Ivașcu’s. The present structure was built of masonry in 1795 by Prince Alexander Mourouzis; it was decorated with frescoes on bare mortar. It was mentioned by ban Mihai Cantacuzino on an 1828 plan, and in registers of 1810 and 1831. Its current name, first appearing in 1818, is believed to have initially referred to the surrounding district, where an old man (moș), a Bulgarian gardener named Pedar, cultivated vegetables; he lived over a century and died before 1805. According to the old pisanie, repairs took place in 1898. Consolidation, financed by parishioners, was undertaken after the 1940 earthquake. More repairs happened in 1964, and it was re-sanctified by Patriarch Justinian Marina in 1966, when the painting was redone. In 2003, the facade was repaired and painted in white, and a new, carved entrance door was installed.The cross-shaped church measures 24 meters long by 9.5-10.7 meters wide, with slightly deep side apses, polygonal on the exterior. The two square-based domes are nearly equal in size and have bulb-shaped roofs. The slightly projected cornice runs along the arches of the side facades of both the octagonal bell tower and the twelve-sided Pantocrator dome. The enclosed portico with ornamental stained-glass windows, has a wide middle arch. The narthex is covered by a rounded ceiling between two wide arches. The first part of the nave is covered in a barrel vault, while the Pantocrator dome rises above the center. The stained glass is decorated with crosses. A slender belt course decorated with vines divides the facade into two sections. The upper part has painted panels on recessed rectangles of varying sizes. The cornice and the narrow frieze, formerly painted with floral motifs, run beneath the wide eaves of the tin roof. The well-planted churchyard connects the entrance on Pitar Moș Street with Dionisie Lupu Street, near the altar.The church was listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs in 2023. Also listed were the parish house, stone cross and grounds.

The Dichiu–Tirchilești Church (Romanian: Biserica Dichiu–Tirchilești) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 72 Icoanei Street in Bucharest, Romania. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The church existed by 1773, but lacks a pisanie or other inscriptions attesting its precise origins. Its name comes from two sources: Deoghen, traditionally considered the ktetor, was dichiu or oikonomos of the Metropolis of Ungro-Wallachia; while he was assisted by a certain Tirchilă. For some years, the surrounding area was a village called Tirchilești, incorporated into Bucharest by 1789. Local tradition holds that the church initially served a skete of monks, which ceased to exist when the city extended its boundaries, transforming the building into a parish church. In 1880, it was extended and a wooden dome added. Repairs took place in 1898 and 1903. The interior was painted in fresco in 1949–1953, while exterior repainting was carried out in 1955.The church measures 22 meters long by 6–10 meters wide, and is situated on an elevation. It is cross-shaped, with polygonal exterior apses, an octagonal dome above the nave and, above the narthex, a square bell tower. The latter is topped by a cross sitting on a small roof lantern supported by four slender columns. Interior columns were demolished, while the formerly open portico is entirely closed by masonry, ending in a flat facade with two small pylons at the ends. The exterior was frequently modified as well: the string course does not survive, and the sides feature arches in the lower part, medallions in the upper. The entrance is flanked by icons of Saints Peter and Paul. Two rows of seven saints each, with floral decorations, sit above the entrance, as does the patron saint's icon.The church owns a restored Gospel Book and relics of Saints Paraskeva of the Balkans, Stephen, John the New of Suceava and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, all displayed in a silver hand. It is listed as a historic monument by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.