“Chesarie the Bishop” old seminary

"CHESARIE THE BISHOP" OLD SEMINARY The Theological Seminary of Buzău was founded by Bishop Chesarie (1825-1846) in 1836. While extracting stone from Pietroasele for the construction of some building works in Buzău county, including the building to house the Seminary and the bridge over Râmnicul Sărat river, Hen with golden chicks treasure was discovered (1837). Dionisie Romano, teacher and future bishop of Buzău (1865-1873), "diligent awakener of culture" and "symbol of Romanian cultural unity", as Nicolae Iorga characterized him, edited in Buzău, together with the director of the Theological Seminary, Gavriil Munteanu, the first church publication in the country, "Vestitorul besericesc" (1839-1840), to "nourish the religious and moral spirit that has always characterized the Romanian nation". Among the directors and professors of the Seminary, we mention: the professor and first director Gavriil Munteanu, the painter Ion Andreescu, the hierodeacon Ghenadie Enăceanu (who later became bishop of Râmnic), the priest Constantin Provian, the priest Chiril Popescu, the professor Pamfil Georgian, the priests Gheorghe Marinescu and Vasile Sibiescu, the archimandrite Ghenadie Nițoiu, the priest Aurel Grigoraș etc. Among the graduates the following can be mentioned: the metropolitans of Moldova Saint Iosif Naniescu and Irineu Mihălcescu, the priests Dumitru Belu, Ioan G. Coman, Horia Constantinescu, Gabriel Cocora, His Eminence Ciprian Spiridon (current Archbishop of Buzău and Vrancea), etc. In the 20th century, a new building was built for the school, where today the students of the seminary attend classes. The old seminary building, restored and adapted, still houses the Diocesan Church Museum with a rich exhibition of old church art. The old seminary is included in the list of Historical Monuments (BZ-II-m-A- 02324.04).