Foto: Flickr.comThe leader of Wallachia, Mircea Ciobanul, who rulled these lands from Romania twice, between 1545 - 1554 and 1558 - 1559, built a church to belong to his princely residence.
Nowadays this church is known as the Church of the Annunciation or St. Antony's Church. It is the oldest church from Bucharest, the capital city of Romania.
The construction is set on the place where once was a wooden church which burned. It was restored after another fire in 1847 and again, in 1934, by the Commision of Historical Monuments.
The architecture of the church was concieved in the Wallachian architectural style of the 16th century. It also has a three cusped design in it's 25 meters longitudinal area of construction and 8 meters wide on the outwards.
The decorations that can be seen on the walls are made from brick stripes that alternate with plaster stripes.
The cornices you can see a series of small decorated niches and buttreses which support the outer walls, made after the Moldavian architectural style.
The portal of the church is well proportioned and carved beautifully in brancovan style. Stefan Cantacuzino modified a little the aspect of the portal in 1715.
Inside, on the left side of the portal, facing the apse, there are mural paintings of the church's founders Mircea Ciobanul and Lady Chiajna, his wife.
On the right there can be observed the rulling prince Stefan Cantacuzino and his wife, Lady Pauna.
This church's history is not stoping here.The church of the Old Princely Court was the place where Wallachia's ruling princes were ordained for almost three centuries. Here the princes recieved God's blessing during a solemn ceremony that was followed by a popular feast.
