“Holy Angels” Church

"HOLY ANGELS" CHURCH The beginnings of "Holy Angels" Church are placed, according to local tradition, in the time of Lady Neaga, wife of Mihnea Vodă the Turned-Turk (1577-1583; 1585-1591). Most indications lead to the acceptance of year 1619 as the date of the first building of the church, but also of the name "Church in the Forest", given the fact that it was built on a cleared portion of the Crâng of Buzău, which stretched, at that time, on the entire western side of the fair. With the development and modernisation of the town, especially during the period of the Organic Regulation, the church was rebuilt in 1833, but the great earthquakes of 1894 and 1940 damaged it considerably. It is assumed that the carving of the iconostasis, the pulpit and the archbishop's chair belonged to the craftsman Dimitrie Spătaru, the head of Buzău school of sculpture, founded by Bishop Chesarie. On the land owned by the church, in the centre of the city, the famous teacher Dionisie Romano, bishop of Buzău (1864-1873), honorary member of the Romanian Academy, built the first primary school of the city, with teaching in Romanian, in 1832. A bell tower, which was entered from Calea Unirii, was demolished in 1937. The church has a valuable collection of icons and old church books. It is included on the List of Historic Monuments (BZ-II-m-B-20459).