Cerceluş Church

The Cerceluş Church is an orthodox church in Bucharest, located in the Baba Novac - Dristor area, built between 1948 and 1963.

It is one of the very few orthodox churches that is not oriented (with the altar) towards the East (note: not the geographical East, but the direction of the rising Sun on a certain date). According to canonical specifications, all Orthodox churches must be oriented as mentioned above. This is due to the fact that before the church was erected, the neighborhood had already been built along a grid of streets (after 1934 - noticeable today), but lacked a church to serve the area. Therefore, in 1947, Bucharest City Hall donated a small plot of land in the area, between the Cercelus and Harsova streets, and the church was built upon it. The first brick was laid on October 14th, 1948, and the church was sanctified on December 20th, 1959. It underwent a major restoration process in 2001, as it was in deplorable condition at the time.