Kretzulescu Church

Notice the contrast: a small red-brick church, almost toy-like, surrounded by the largest official buildings in the city. This is Kretzulescu Church, in Romanian Crețulescu, built between 1720 and 1722 by the grand logothete, a kind of chancellor, Iordache Crețulescu, and his wife Safta.

1Brâncoveanu's daughter

Safta was the daughter of Constantin Brâncoveanu, the prince who ruled Wallachia for a quarter of a century and gave his name to an artistic style, the Brâncovenesc. In 1714 the Ottomans deposed him, took him to Istanbul and executed him together with his four sons. A few years later his daughter was building this church in her father's style: a columned porch, arches and carved stone.

2The Phanariot century

After Brâncoveanu, the Sublime Porte stopped trusting the local boyars and began appointing Greek princes from the Phanar district of Istanbul. The Phanariots ruled Wallachia from 1716 to 1821: a century of heavy taxes and intrigue, but also of Greek culture and reform.

Back then this was the northern edge of Bucharest, and the founder also built an inn next to the church. The bare brick you see is not original: the church was plastered until the 1935–1936 restoration led by Ștefan Balș. Under communism there were plans to demolish it, and it was saved mainly thanks to a group of architects, among them Henriette Delavrancea.

3What to look for

• The porch, with stone columns and paintings that keep the old decoration.
• The blind arches running along the brick façade.
• The two towers with tall, narrow windows.