The „Sfânta Treime” Cathedral

You see it from anywhere in the centre: seven spires standing above the tops of the fir trees, at the edge of the resort park. It is the newest large building in town and, for exactly that reason, the one you will not find on the list of historic monuments.

The „Sfânta Treime” Cathedral stands right at the entrance to the park, between the town and the hill behind it. Work began on 11 April 1991, and the church was consecrated on 22 September 2002. It was designed by the architect Gheorghe Bratiloveanu together with the engineer Gheorghe Gemeniuc.

What the spires stand for

The seven spires are not a whim of the drawing: each one stands for one of the seven sanctifying works of the Church. The crosses on the roof are thirteen — twelve for the apostles, and the thirteenth for the Mother of God.

That count reads best from above, or from a distance on the far bank of the river, where the spires gather together and stand out against the wooded hill. Close up, from the paved forecourt, what you notice instead is the pillared porch and the wide flight of steps.

Why it is not a monument

The list of historic monuments carries 16 entries for Vatra Dornei, and most of them are buildings from 1896 onwards: the springs, the town hall, the casino, the stations, the old hotels. The cathedral is not among them, because it is far more recent. It is worth saying plainly, because the outline of a big church misleads easily: this is not an old foundation but a building from the early 2000s, raised in a town that had already gathered its heritage a century before.

Getting there

You walk over from the centre in a few minutes. The resort park begins right beside it, and from the casino you reach it along the alley, in among the trees. If you drive, the park car park is the one to use; the street in front is narrow and there is little room to pull over.

From the cathedral yard you can see everything that matters in the town below: the roofs, the river, and above them the hill with its strips of ski slope. Towards evening the light falls on the spires from the west and lifts them out of the forest behind.

What to know before you go

This is a working church, not a museum. Dress decently, keep your voice down, and ask before taking photographs inside. There is no published visiting timetable, so the simplest thing is to fit your visit around the services.

The playground in the park is next to the cathedral, which makes it an easy stop with children: you let them loose in the park and look at the church from the bench, which is not a bad way to spend a summer afternoon.