Today, 23 February 2010, at 2.00 o’clock p.m., the Romanian Patriarchy organised a press conference on the theme of the project for the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation, in Europa Christiana room, in the Patriarchal Palace. The Conference was held by His Grace Ciprian Câmpineanul, Assistant Bishop to the Patriarch and by Prof. Eng. Nicolae Noica, on behalf of the special Commission for the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation of the Romanian Patriarchy.

Before starting the conference, a last meeting of this Special Commission of the Romanian Patriarchy was held, consisting in an encounter with the representatives of the 10 design firms listed and admitted in the contest.

During the conference, His Grace Ciprian Câmpineanul presented a short history of the project of the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation, pointing out the fact that the layout of the future building is the result of the thematic – consulting symposiums held from 2008 till 2009. Architects from Bucharest and from some other cities of the country participated in these symposiums, to whom His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained the design theme with recommendations regarding the theological significance of his place of worship. The architects, in their turn, brought their contribution through their own ideas and comments that the Romanian Patriarchy took into account.

His Grace also said that the 10 competing design firms have 3 months for drafting the project, till 30 May, and then, after estimating the offers presented, on 30 June, the winner will be known. The builder of the future Cathedral will be selected in July 2010.

The Romanian Patriarchy would like the construction of the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation to begin at the middle of August at the latest.

When referring to the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation, Prof. Eng. Nicoale Noica said that “an aspiration over 100 years long of this people is likely to become a fact”. He also made a short presentation of those who wanted this desideratum to become a reality, the promoter of this idea having been King Carol I, who proposed the project of a Cathedral in Bucharest in 1881: “Carol I donated 5,000,000 lei gold for this project. This amount represented 5% of Romania’s budget (…). Then, Patriarch Miron Cristea resumed this idea”.

The great problem of the new Cathedral was the place where it could be situated. So, in the course of time, several locations were proposed, among which: Union Square, University Square, Arsenal Hill, Carol Park, Roman Square, the place where the church of “Saint George the New” is, but finally, the Cathedral for the Nation’s Salvation will be raised on Arsenal Hill, he said.

Prof. Eng. Nicolae Noica underlined in his intervention the importance of this project for the Romanian Orthodox people, who will be never be achieved until this Cathedral is built.

To end with the conference, His Grace Ciprian Câmpineanul and Prof. Eng. Nicolae Noica answered the questions of the journalists present concerning the contest of projects and the resources allotted for building the future Cathedral.