Kretzulescu Church

Also spelled Cretulescu Church, this church was built between 1720 - 1722 in Brancovenesc style. It is an Orthodox Church and one of the oldest churches in Bucharest.

As a common practice of those times, there was an inn next to Kretzulescu Church and the church was economically sustained by the inn but it was demolished for the construction of The Royal Palace, today the National Museum of Art of Romania.

When the church was built, the exterior walls were painted but after the restoration made from 1935 to 1936, the red bricks of the walls were left uncovered. On the porch, the paintings are the original ones and in the interior of the church, the paintings were made by Gheorghe Tattarescu in 1859–1860, a great Romanian painter.

The church was damaged during the years by the big earthquakes: in 1838 the tower was destroyed and the earthquakes from 1940 and 1977 destroyed the structure and some paintings. Each time there were made works of restoration that did not alter the original church.

During the communist years, the church was about to be demolished but thanks to the efforts of some architects, the church was saved.