TheMarketForIdeas

Renowned for its enchanting myths and timeless folklore, Romania continues to cling proudly to its spiritual dimensions. So much so, in fact, that the nation began a new era of (sacred) magnificence by raising the world’s largest Orthodox Cathedral, right in the very heart of Bucharest.

Who would have imagined that, although secularisation formally began back in 1863, with the nationalisation of church properties, modern Romania would remain deeply religious, and, more importantly, eager to channel that faith into placing crosses after concrete? In this paradoxical context, where the country is indeed religious yet statistically does not stand out too much across global comparisons, the country simply decided one day, in early 2010s, that it would build a monumental national cathedral, with completion symbolically envisioned for 2025 (when Romanian Orthodox Church marks 100 years since becoming a Patriarchate), drawing inspiration from (more modest) 19^th century plans and ideals.

In this „transition” from secular palaces to sacred altars, the Babylonian-esque (by some taste) People’ Salvation Cathedral is not merely a church but a vast complex spanning over 18 hectares, encompassing hospitals, social canteens, housing facilities, missionary outposts and educational centres. When it comes to replacing dictatorship with domes, the cathedral (that architectonically dominates the megalomaniac Nicolae Ceaușescu’s “House of the People”, now the Palace of the Parliament, located in its closest proximity) itself has staggering dimensions: it boasts double the volume of the European Parliament, rises taller than Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London with its 127 meters, stretches beyond UEFA football fields standards, measuring 127 meters in length and 70 in width. Conceived as the „church of churches” [1], the project borrows socio-cultural motifs from across Romania’s diverse regions, symbolically weaving them into one edifice. Additionally, the entire facility is designed to accommodate as many as 165.000 people, roughly a ¼ of Bratislava’s population, with 20.000 worshippers able to pray simultaneously inside the main sanctuary and adjacent underground galleries.

In this space, where towers touch heavens, the list of records goes on. The cathedral houses the largest collection of religious mosaics (over 1,8 hectares), alongside the largest iconostasis, made up of 4 million pieces painstakingly assembled by 50 artists over the span of an entire year. It also boasts the tallest dome, a free-swinging bell heavier than a tram, crafted by 25 European specialists, and an ensemble of 27 monumental pure bronze doors, each weighting four tons (or around 4 Dacia Dusters). True to the logic of monumentalism, no expense was spared when transposing liturgy into legend, as even the materials used are rare, including: Murano glass, recalling Barcelona’ Sagrada Familia; Carrara stone, reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome; Rușchița marble, same prized Romanian stone used in the Oval Office and Hungarian Parliament, coupled with other (more usual) precious metals, rare stones and exotic woods.

In this context, crosses are swiftly transformed into… plus (+) signs on financial spreadsheets, as the budgeting picture proves to be just as awe-inspiring as the cathedral itself. While the Romanian Orthodox Church reports yearly profits of around 30 million EUR, 90 million EUR in state revenues and properties worth over 300 million, the bulk of funding for the cathedral came from donations, EU allocations and governmental support. But while we can’t put a price on devotion, the Cathedral’s approaching half a billion EUR total cost (over 400 million and counting), or double the research GDP allocation for one year, is set to become the most expensive private development in Romania since the 1989 Revolution.

Its scale and ambition inevitably recall the monumentalism of the communist era, when megalomaniac projects, spearheaded by Ceaușescu’s “House of the People”, reshaped Romania’s landscape. Whether the cathedral represents a continuation of this monumental tradition or simply an unfathomable expression of faith remains debatable. What is certain, however, is that it rises in a time of shifting religious demographics. According to the 2021 national census, 2.7 million Romanians [2], roughly 15% of the population, did not declare a religious affiliation, nearly ten times more than in 2011, when only 300,000 did so.

Even so, Orthodoxy continues to dominate the spiritual landscape. With 14 million adherents, surpassed only by Russia and Ukraine, Romania counts 85.3% of its believers under the Orthodox umbrella, though the share has fallen by 1.2% over the past decade. Roman Catholics follow with 4.5%, mostly among Hungary’s minority communities, while Protestants account for 3%. Pentecostals, now at 2.5%, are the only major denomination to grow, adding nearly a quarter more adherents compared to the last census, mostly concentrated in Transylvania. Religious minorities, totalling 18 recognized denominations [3], each remain under 1%, with Jewish and Muslim communities halved in size over the past decade. Atheists, agnostics, and non-religious citizens, meanwhile, now number around 127,000, a threefold increase from 2011, and are counted distinctly from those with no declared affiliation.

Placed in a broader European and Central-Eastern context, Romania’s trajectory mirrors regional trends. Since World War II, the country has had no official state religion (secularism), with all recognized denominations enjoying state support and considerable freedoms [4]. Despite the repression endured under communism, religiosity remains culturally resilient: nearly half of Romanians still attend worship at least once a month, view religion as an integral part of their cultural or national identity, and trust in its enduring social role, though these percentages have modestly declined over the last decade.

Whether the People’s Salvation Cathedral ultimately reinvigorates Orthodox faith or merely becomes another item on tourists’ itineraries remains an open question, yet could it still pay off economically? To play the angel’s advocate, currently tourism contributes a meagre 5.5-5.7% of GDP [5], placing it around the 20^th in the EU, with Bucharest attracting a vast majority of it, with around 2 million arrivals per year. Thus, if cathedrals across Eastern Europe [6], from Belgrade, Sofia or Chișinău, stand out as some of their cities most visited landmarks, there is little reason to doubt that the People’ Salvation Cathedral, facing the Palace of Parliament, could not gain the same status. Its strategic location, accessible to Orthodox pilgrims from the entirety of the Eastern and Southern parts of Europe, strengthens the case and could add around 1.5-2.5 million tourists yearly, if we compare it to the average data from Saint Peter and Paul’s Cathedrals, Hagia Sofia, Alexander Nevsky, etc.

In the meantime, its towering domes already dominate Bucharest’s skyline, and its bells echo resoundingly across the capital’s heart, proclaiming both continuity and change in Romania’s religious story.

Editor’s note:

On the same topic, see also Constantin-Parke, G. (2018) The Romanian National Cathedral – The Voice of a People Freed. The Market for Ideas. Available at: https://www.themarketforideas.com/the-romanian-national-cathedral-the-voice-of-a-people-freed-a426/.

References:

[1] Ediția de Dimineață (n.d.) Arhitectul Catedralei Mântuirii Neamului, Constantin Amaiei, spune tot ce ai vrea să știi despre ce și cum va fi „biserica bisericilor”. Available at: https://editiadedimineata.ro/arhitectul-catedralei-mantuirii-neamului-constantin-amaiei-spune-tot-ce-ai-vrea-sa-stii-despre-ce-si-cum-va-fi-biserica-bisericilor/.

[2] Institutul Național de Statistică (n.d.) Recensământul Populației și Locuințelor. Available at: https://www.recensamantromania.ro/.

[3] Secretariatul de Stat pentru Culte (n.d.) Lista cultelor recunoscute oficial în România. Available at: http://culte.gov.ro/?page_id=57.

[4] U.S. Department of State (2023) 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Romania. Available at: https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/romania/.

[5] Institutul Național de Statistică (n.d.) Romanian Tourism. Available at: https://insse.ro/cms/en/tags/romanian-tourism.

[6] European Commission (2025) ETC Report: European Tourism Trends Q2 2025. Available at: https://transition-pathways.europa.eu/knowledge-documents/etc-report-european-tourism-trends-q2-2025

Photo source: https://catedrala-nationala.ro/foto/.