As a tour guide, this cathedral is a new tourist destination and a great opportunity to share stories that give context to this building. People’s Salvation Cathedral is the name of the cathedral, although I usually translate it as The Cathedral of the Salvation of the People. This cathedral is a promise for taking all the church money to fund World War 1, and it’s a promise that we keep today. Even Pope John the 2nd donated money for this project a long time ago. The Cathedral is the 17th largest cathedral in the world in terms of height and the number 1 Orthodox cathedral in the world in terms of volume and height. It is one of the highlights of the city but also a bit controversial.
1.The Price Tag
The current costs in November 2025 have reached 270 million euros. 25% of these funds are private donations and the rest… government spending and local municipality funds. In other words most of the money comes from taxes.
2.Politics and religion mixing
The Romanian Orthodox Church is currently being paid by the government in large part because communists took land from the church and the current government can’t give the land back.
3.It is supposed to be open already
In 2018 the Cathedral was open with the sole purpose of celebrating 100 years of unification with the teritory of Transylvania. The fire department came and charged the church with 50.00 euros because it was open in unsafe conditions.
4.Corruption in the Romanian Orthodox Church
The easiest way to launder money in the “right direction” is through construction projects. So after this documentary, we know that some shady things are going on behind the scenes with this project. Official estimates are that the Catherdal has 25% funds from donations, but most likely the reality is closer to 10%. To simplify things, most likely the church is siphoning funds through construction projects. The documentary below has captions in English:
5.A geopolitical religious measuring competition
Romania is not one of the strongest economies in the world but with large projects like this it is definately some type of power projection… but Romanians prefer investing in other projects.
6.Hospitals not churches.
132 churches are being built this year, and out of the 12 hospitals promised also this year, only 3 will be finished.
7.Population decline
Romanian population is in declince, churches are being expanded and new churches are being built. It doesn’t make long term sense.
8.Taking one of the prime spots in town that could have been anything.
The positioning of the church could have allowed the placement of a smaller church dedicated to the victims of the communist regime and a large park in a city that lacks many green spaces.
9.Positioning
It is placed close to another giant building; in architectural positioning, 2 large buildings close to one another diminish their greatness. It is positioned around a building built by dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, that technically was against the church. I am saying “technically” because the Romanian Communist Party co-opted the Romanian Orthodox Church, and in part it was used as a surveillance machine.
10.Aestethics
Art is subjective, but a lot of people think it is ugly.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/romanians-flock-new-cathedral-worlds-largest-orthodox-church
https://romania.europalibera.org/a/romania-pierde-bani-pentru-spitale-din-pnrr/33475974.html
Dracula's Guide to Romania 
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