The National College "Vasile Alexandri"

A monumental building, built in the old port of Galati, the economic lung of medieval Moldavia meant to slenderly and elegantly celebrate the beneficial vecinity of the Danube, a point of departure and arrival, sometimes adventurous, and sometimes full of romanticism.

This sleek and elegant creation of architect Ion Mincu was designed to celebrate a history that ultimately has been accomplished through the Great Union on 1st of December 1918.

Today, an integrated construction of the "Dunărea de Jos" University, built by the Catholic Church and led by the Carmelite Order, the girls' school, with the status of a maiden pension, was one of the best performing institutions of its kind.

The building of the current National College "Costache Negri" was built between 1898 and 1902, and its inauguration took place in March 1902, in the presence of Spiru Haret, the Minister of Cults and Public Instruction. The building is a „Spiru Haret" typical school, with 16 classrooms, laboratories, festivities hall, kitchen, dining room and bedrooms. To increase the tuition space, after 1980, the bedrooms were divided and transformed into classrooms. On the pediment is the bust of Costache Negri, and in front of the school is placed the bust of Professor Nicolae Longinescu, the first director of the institution, a work made by the sculptor Dumitriu Bârlad. Text and photo sources: http://galatituristic.ro; https://www.face-book.com/Colegiul.National.Costache.Negri.Galati/

Vovidenia Church from Galați county, having the patronage of the Entrance of Our Lady to the Church, was built in 1790 by the old governor Ion Cârja, and in the same year was sanctified by the archpriest G. Avram. The church was built using a triconch plan with architectural and decorative elements specific to the Moldavian religious architecture. The narthex is covered with a semi-circular vault, and the nave is covered by the Pantocrator Tower, and above the altar another smaller tower is rising. On the exterior, the church has a belt made of medial girdle consisting of two rows of bricks placed on the corner. The cornice is decorated with niches. The foundation is made of river boulders and concrete, the masonry is made of bricks, the framing is made of wood and the coating is made of sheet-metal. The bell tower on the porch is an addition from 1901. Text and photo sources: http://galatituristic.ro/; http://www.edj.ro/

Sfinții Voievozi Church was built between 1857 and 1963 on the highest point of the city, therefore dubbed "Catedrala din deal"(Cathedral from the hill). With an impressive architecture, the church was designed according to the Bolgrad Cathedral plan, at the suggestion of the Bishop Melchisedec Ştefănescu (the first Bishop of the Lower Danube, in 1864), and it is about to become the Cathedral of Galați county. The sanctum was built on the cemetery of the former public hospital, where are buried the bodies of the Russian soldiers fallen on the battlefields in the Russian-Turkish wars, starting with the one from 1806-1812 and ending with the Crimean War (1853-1856). In recent years, the Sfinții Voievozi Church has been restored capitally for the third time, and in 2011 the Church was resanctified. Text and photo sources: http://galatituristic.ro/

Built at the beginning of the XIX century, St. Spiridon Church has elements specific to the Moldavian religious architecture. The church was built after a triconch plan, with four buttresses and includes a closed porch, covered with a spherical cap and the slightly elongated nave over which there is a tower that reproduces the image of Jesus Pantocrator. Two large towers, with a square base from the wall and continued with timber, rise above the porch and over the nave. On the outside, you can admire a middle girdle of bricks placed on the church’s corners, the same ornamental motif repeating itself at the base of the towers. The foundation of the church was made of river boulders, and a masonry brick over a meter thick, with a sheet of casing and sustained by a roof truss. Over time, the church was subject to several interventions. Just like the other churches in Galați, the church of St. Spiridon was burnt in 1821. The most valuable elements of the church are the rood screen and the icons. Text and photo sources: http://galatituristic.ro; https://www.viata-libera.ro

In 1776, Mihai Racovită, the ruler, built the Church of St. Nicholas and dedicated to St Ecaterina from Sinai Mountain Monastery. The church was small and was built after a triconch plan. The construction year is engraved on the foundations and on the nowdays church’s floor. The Church of St. Nicholas has a ship shape plan, divided by two rows of collomns. The west wall and on the first two octagonal columns in the church sustain the Pantocrator Tower with a circular section. The iconostas is wood carved and separates the altar apse from the rest of the church. The painting was refurbished after 1980 in very loud colors. On the outside, the church has several Greek decorative elements: Doric columns, triangular pediments, and denticles. The foundation is made of river boulders, the masonry of brick, the roof truss of wood, and the cover is made of sheet metal. Text and photo sources: //galatituristic.ro/; http://www.biserici.org/

The Church St. George from Galați was built in 1897 and sanctified in May, the 27th 1897 by Partenie Clinceni, the Bishop of the Lower Danube. The name of the church was inspired by another Church of St. George that was built in 1664, near the Danube River, close to the Church Precista (The Church of the Virgin) which at that moment was gradually collapsing. Since the people in the parish were plowmen, carriers, andcattle breeders, the second patron was St. Patriarch Modest of Jerusalem (5th century), the animals’ protector. The third patron, St. Ecaterina (Catherine), was added in 1929. Representatives for the Church of St. Gheorghe, Modest and Ecaterina in Galați are the big tower, the iconostasis, the special painting style, and the wonderful embroidered epitaph. Text and photo sources: http://galatituristic.ro; http://www.edj.ro/