Mănăstirea Antim
Antim Monastery
The Church of the Antim Monastery was built in 1713,
a year when Antim the Ivirean (1650 – 1716) was
patriarch of Walachia. A native of Iviria (Present
Republic of Georgia), he had played a great part in
the development of Romanian culture. The entire
Antim complex was executed after his plans and under
his direct supervision.
The church is build in walachian architecture
typical for the period when it was built, a
characteristic element being the exonartex, the
opened porch supported by columns.
The settings belong to the last period of the
brancovenesque¹ style. In 1863, the church goes
through a restoration process. It is the moment when
is made the rosette from the narthex’s gable and
when the furniture is being replaced. The painters
Petre Alexandrescu and Gheorghe Tatarescu have
painted the interior.
Ionescu’s photography – the church caught in the
front – brings up to date the procedure of framing
with an architectural element. The frame in frame (emboitement
procedure) ensures the geometry of the image. The
favourite architectural element is the arch. It
ensures the framing for the Patriarchal Church,
Mihai Voda church, Plumbuita monastery (the ruins
seen from the inside through the arch of the porch).
For Stavropoleos he uses the three-cusped arch, an
element of the inner yard. The arch, as framing
element, appears again in an unholy image: the
summer restaurant on Monte Carlo island in Cismigiu
Park.
The preoccupation for symmetry appears one more in
the interior image of Antim’s church – the entrance
“caught” and “framed” by the columns that separate
the nave from the narthex.
