The Recovered Heritage of the Cotroceni Monastery

Jesus Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by the Apostles – an icon that depicts Jesus Christ, blessing and holding the opened gospel, sitting on a golden throne. The symbols of the four Evangelists (Matthew – the angel, John – the eagle, Mark – the lion, Luke – the bull) are represented in the four corners and the twelve Apostles are portrayed in decorated medallions on the sides.

Saint Peter the Apostle, the keeper of „the Keys of Heaven” – Iconostasis icon, painted with tempera and gold leaf on wood. This icon may have initially been a part of the iconostasis of the Cotroceni monastery’s church, demolished after 1830, or of the „Sfantu Gheorghe” church, from the Serban Voda inn.

Saints Sava, Spiridon, Nicholas (on top row); Saints Stephen, Stelian, Theodore the monk (on the bottom row) – Part of a double-sided festive icon, mid. 19th century. Saint Stelian appears holding a small child, being considered the guardian of babies and of the Christian family. His life of prayers, his love and devotion to God earned him the gift of miracles, especially of healing the sick children.

The entry of the Virgin Mary into the Temple – Festive icon, Romanian school, depicting the Virgin Mary as child, brought to the church by her parents, Joachim and Anne, being greeted by Saint Zacharias.

Beheading of John, the Baptist – scene painted on wood, with gold foil. A soldier is holding the cut off head of St. John and places it on a tray held by a woman, probably Salome, whose wish was the Saint to be killed, at the orders of King Herod.

The Annunciation – Festive icon, depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove descending on rays of light above kneeling Virgin Mary. The Archangel Gabriel is also portrayed, with his lily, bringing Her the good news, that She will be giving birth to the Saviour.

The Resurrection of Jesus – The well-known scene of the Resurrection, painted in a Catholic manner, part of a festive double-sided icon, mid. 19th century. The new Western artistic tendencies can be observed, with taken up elements reflecting in the rendering of physiognomies, the gestures of the characters, the folds of the clothes, some of them richly decorated with meticulous calligraphy.

The Holy Emperors Constantine and Helena – icon painted on wood, in which the two are represented according to traditional iconography, on both sides of a cross which they support. Saint Constantine wears the closed crown, a red tunic decorated with floral motifs and golden braids embroidered with vegetal decoration. Saint Helena wears the opened crown over a veil, has a blue dress, a tunic and a mantle in shades of red, with golden details.

One of the two special icons that enframe the Cross of the Crucifixion. This one shows the Virgin Mary, with a sorrowful face, looking at Jesus, holding her hands together at her chest.

The Cross of the Crucifixion, illustrating Jesus Christ crucified, wearing the crown of thorns, at the base of the cross being painted ”Glava Adama”. On the trilobate arms of the cross, on which narrow, profiled, gilded rods are applied, the symbols of the Evangelists (eagle – John, angel – Matthew, lion – Mark, bull – Luke) are painted, and bunches of three rays are mounted in the spaces created by the joining of the arms of the cross.

The second icon enframing the Crucifix shows Saint John the Apostle, sad, with his right hand at his temple. The two icons are surmounted by a small, golden cross, a narrow, golden wand being applied on the edge.

Altar cross (double-sided) made in 1878, by Mihail Dragomirescu, painted in oil on linden wood, carved, perforated and gilded. It depicts Messiah crucified, framed, to the right and left, by the sun and the moon. ”Glava Adama” is pictured at the base of the cross followed by the painter's signature and date. In the centre of the other side of the cross is a representation of the ”Last Supper”, surrounded by instruments of torture and crucifixion, and the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are painted in the trilobed extremities. The cross is richly decorated with golden vegetal carvings, of which four rays emerge.

After the Turkish soldiers, who occupied the monastery in 1821, following Tudor Vladimirescu, plundered and destroyed the church and the objects of worship, the superiors focused on the restoration of the furniture and icons. Among other pieces of furniture, they ordered an imposing episcopal stool, a pulpit with a special structure and ornamentation or a tetrapod. The object most likely have been made by foreign craftsmen, but they were in line with the trends of the Romanian cult art, receptive to the decoration styles in Europe.
The tetrapod is made of carved, perforated, painted and gilded wood, richly decorated with vegetal ornaments, produced at the middle of the 19th century.

Pulpit – The influence of the western furniture, with white background and golden floral and vegetal decorations, with phytomorphic, anthropomorphic or zoomorphic ornaments carved in high relief or ronde-bosse, as the angels and the eagle crowning the prismatic pulpit and with classicizing pediments, is obvious. Richly carved and gilded frames also frame the medallions in which Jesus Christ and the four Apostles are represented, using the technique of oil painting.

Episcopal stool – Impressing with its form and decoration, the stool’s base is represented by two golden winged griffins that support the panels and the seat, both upholstered on the inside with purple velvet, presenting carved decoration only on the left side. The headrest is in the form of a half rose, with an eagle with open wings on top of it. The canopy has a pediment decorated with carved wooden fringes, with floral and vegetal motifs. This stool has been executed at the initiative of Procopie (1833-1838), the Cotroceni Monastery superior, because the old stool had been burned by the Ottomans in 1821, when they had occupied the monastery.

Table with „The Holy Trinity” decorative panel – It is a table whose square shaped top is covered with a yellowish-white fabric, decorated with golden leaves and flowers and red crosses. It has a front panel decorated with a sculpture depicting „The Holy Trinity”, in the central medallion, with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel portrayed on the left and right, with two open mouths dragons below. This panel, different in style, was initially part of another object.

Pall – Silk red satin fabric on which are embroidered bouquets of three flowers, arranged in three rows, sewed with tubular silver and gold plated thread. The green satin frame is decorated with floral and vegetal motifs, embroidered with metallic thread. The cotton satin lining was added to the last restoration.

Wedding crowns – the pair has been donated to the monastery at the end of the 19th century. They are made of hammered, engraved and partially gilded metal, decorated with floral ornaments and surmounted by a small cross that sits on a flower-shaped support. On the underside the names of the donors and the date are engraved: ”Ana I. Constantinescu, 1899, April 23” and ”I. Constantinescu, 1899, April 23”.

Large votive lamp surrounded by three smaller ones, made of cast, hammered, perforated and chiseled silver, all of them decorated with vertically arranged vegetal motifs. Three metal sconces shaped as angels, from which the chains are fastened, are welded on the body of the large votive lamp, as well as three supports that each hold a smaller lamp. The inscription of beneficence is engraved on the neck of the large lamp.

Printed in Bucharest, in 1856, the Gospel is written in Romanian language (with transition alphabet), it has 340 pages, 84 unwritten leaves. Mechanical paste paper had been used for the book’s printing, also black and red printing ink. The spectacular lithographs have been drawn by George Vernich, adorning the title sheet and the four Evangelists, the frontispieces, the ornate initials, the floral borders and titles.