CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN THE ROMANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH. THE ROMANIAN ARCHITECTURAL CHURCH STYLES

The Romanian church architecture represents a generic title that refers to the evolution of this branch of religious art, within the lands occupied by the Orthodox Romanians. Places of worship appeared in these lands since the fourteenth century and they were built in all the architectural styles found, from the basilical style to the most complex forms of the byzantine style. However, taking into consideration the fact that Romania was an unified state only after 1918, until the date mentioned earlier in our study, to the three principalities which, after the unification act formed the actual territory of Romania: Wallachia (The Romanian Country), Moldavia and Transylvania. The historical context, in which the religious art has developed in these areas, has influenced the architectonic styles within it. This was due to the period of domination and some countries from the eastern or western part of Europe have developped within these lands. That is why we can not speak about a Romanian architectural style, but each one of the three principalities (Wallachian and Brancovan style, Moldavian style and Transylvanian style with the wooden churches), started to develop since the fourteenth century, when the state and church organization was consolidated in these territories. Therefore, we have made a analysis of the church architecture evolution within the Romanian Orthodox people, focusing, in particular, on the development of the local architectonic styles and on the influences received from eastern or western architectural styles, which were due to the East and West period of domination on this part of Europe. This study provides an overview of the mark brought by the Romanian artistic creativity on the church architecture, in general.