Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, Craiova

The earlier church's close proximity to the headquarters of the Ban of Craiova gave it importance in the city's political life, as well as a defensive purpose, while the modern building's role ensures its continued significance.

The first church on the site, the city's oldest, has been speculated as existing during the reigns of Peter and Ivan Asen I of Bulgaria (ca.

[1] Although Craiova was never surrounded by city walls,[1] it nevertheless had a defensive system of which churches and monasteries formed a part.

In 1657, Macarius III Ibn al-Za'im, Patriarch of Antioch, visited the church, accompanied by deacon Paul of Aleppo.

[1] In 1889, the original church was completely torn down and rebuilt from the ground up in the Byzantine Revival style,[1] in the form of an inscribed Greek cross.

[2] André Lecomte du Noüy was the architect, and the project was supported by King Carol and Queen Elisabeth.

The following year's earthquake caused damage that required the cathedral to be sanctified again in 1978 on the feast of Saint Demetrius, after a refurbishing.

It houses relics of the following saints: Patriarch Nephon II of Constantinople, Sergius and Bacchus and Tatiana of Rome.

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, writing in 1884, called this the only surviving component of the original buildings, suggesting that the first church was dated to some two centuries before Matei Basarab's reconstruction in 1651.