Patriarchal Hill

You are on top of Dealul Mitropoliei, Metropolitan Hill, one of the few corners of old Bucharest that Ceaușescu's systematisation left standing. From here you can see the bulk of the Palace of the Parliament close by: religious power and communist power, face to face.

1The cathedral

The Church of Saints Constantine and Helena was built between 1654 and 1658 by Prince Constantin Șerban and his wife Bălașa. In 1668 the seat of the Metropolitan of Wallachia moved here from Târgoviște, and since 1925 it has been the patriarchal cathedral of the Romanian Orthodox Church. It holds the relics of St Demetrius the New, brought here in 1774; every October, around his feast day on the 27th, thousands of pilgrims queue on the hill.

2Politics on the holy hill

The Wallachian assembly met next to the cathedral. Here, on 24 January 1859, the deputies elected Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the same prince Moldavia had already chosen, uniting the two principalities in practice. The present palace, from 1907, was the Chamber of Deputies and, under communism, the Great National Assembly; since 1996 it has belonged to the Patriarchate.

On 8 June 1862, the conservative prime minister Barbu Catargiu left a parliamentary session and, as his carriage went down the hill, someone shot him at point-blank range. The police investigated, but the killer was never caught. It remains one of the great unsolved crimes of Romanian history.

3What to look for

• The three towers of the cathedral, with their gilded crosses.
• The Patriarchal Palace, with its large dome.
• The bell tower through which you enter the precinct.