• Architecture – Clasic Baroque Style
• Built – 1800-1810
• Architect -

The church of ‘Saint Nicholas’ – the Greek-Catholic cathedral, in relative extension to the bishopric, in Unirii Square, was built between 1800 and 1810. Its architect and constructor are unknown, but the style is well defined, representing classical Baroque. The interior decoration, typical for individualising Romanian Greek-Catholics in the Catholic world is Byzantine. The building fell to the fire in 1836 and it was rebuilt with great efforts and spending until 1870. In the same period the Byzantine pinnacle was added to the tower. A new fire affected the tower in 1907. Its restoration was carried out between 1910 and 1912, when the sumptuous Baroque pinnacle was added, still visible today.

The interior decoration is rich and masterly. The painting follows to a great extent the typical rigours imposed by Byzantine Greek-Orthodox religious art, especially around the iconostasis. Among others, the imperceivable differences in appearance and rite lead to the usage of this place of worship as a high-rank Orthodox Church after the communist regime outlawed the Greek-Catholic rite. The restoration of democracy changed this status quo, and the church became what it had been initially, i.e. a Greek-Catholic cathedral.

It is remarkable that the same church inventory houses several adornments and liturgical objects received as a gift by Greek-Catholic clergymen from emperors of the Habsburg Empire, Maria Theresa and Joseph II. Among these are the two gold-plated monumental tripods that outflank the altar.