The World’s Largest Christian Orthodox Church Is Now Open in Romania

The People’s Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest is covered in stunning frescoes and mosaics. At 410 feet tall, it cost more than $300 million and took 15 years to build

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

October 28, 2025

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Large crowds gathered in downtown Bucharest, the capital of Romania, to celebrate the grand opening of the People’s Salvation Cathedral. Also known as the National Cathedral, the structure is the world’s largest Christian Orthodox church.

Spectators watched as the cathedral’s vast collection of religious paintings and artworks was consecrated in a ceremony on October 26. More than 300 saints are depicted on the cathedral’s gilded walls, while more than 50 saints adorn its bronze doors.

A large bell features the image of Patriarch Daniel, and a cross stands about 23 feet tall within the central dome. Light shines through more than 100 stained-glass windows, featuring painted scenes from the Old and New Testaments and icons of holy angels, prophets, hierarchs and martyrs.

“It was a complex collaboration with the church, with art historians, with artists, also our friends of contemporary art,” Daniel Codrescu, who worked on the cathedral’s frescoes and mosaics, tells the Associated Press’ Vadim Ghirda and Stephen McGrath. “I hope [the church] is going to have a very important impact on society because … it’s a public space.”

The cathedral stands more than 410 feet tall at its highest point and has a capacity of 5,000 people. It was first conceptualized more than a century ago, but two world wars and long communist rule delayed any progress, according to the AP. Construction began in 2010, and the project cost roughly $313 million, which came primarily from public funds. The staggering price tag has been divisive among critics who would have rather seen these funds spent elsewhere.

“The fact that they have forced, year after year, politicians to pay for it, in some cases taking money from communities that really needed that money, indicates it was a show of force, not one of humility and love of God,” Claudiu Tufis, a political scientist at the University of Bucharest, tells the AP. “Economically, it might be OK in the long term as it will be a tourist attraction.”

In 2023, Mihai Gabriel Perju, a theology student who was about to start a junior role at the church, told Radio Free Europe that the cathedral would likely become an important pilgrimage site.

“Simple people have inside of them a curiosity about sacred things, and when they see this building, the thought will enter their mind, ‘I need to find out more about the Christian religion,’” he said. “It will be like dropping a stone into a pond. The ripples will move out into the world and have an impact far from Romania.”

Romania is one of Europe’s most pious countries, with 85 percent of its 19 million people identifying as religious, according to the AP.

“The cathedral is not raised against anyone, but for everyone—for those of yesterday who fought and sacrificed, for those of today who seek meaning in the world, and for those of tomorrow who will learn here that a people lives through faith and is saved through communion and self-giving,” said Archbishop Atanasie, head of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in a statement before the event.

The cathedral will remain open day and night until October 31 to allow pilgrims the chance to pray at the altar.

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.