Church of the Three Holy HierarchsBiserica Trei Ierarhi
Part of Moldavia
An Iași church whose entire facade is carved in over thirty non-repeating stone patterns.
History
Prince Vasile Lupu built the Three Hierarchs church between 1637 and 1639 as the centerpiece of a monastery and college in Iași, then Moldavia's capital, and installed the region's first printing press here in 1640. What sets it apart is its stonework: masons covered every exterior surface in more than thirty distinct carved bands, blending Gothic and Renaissance motifs from the West with Armenian, Georgian, Persian, and Ottoman patterns from the East into one continuous design — unlike anything else in Moldavian church architecture. In February 1821, Alexander Ypsilantis proclaimed the start of the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule from within its walls. The church holds the relics of Saint Parascheva, one of Orthodoxy's most venerated saints, and the tombs of Prince Dimitrie Cantemir and Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the first ruler of the united Romanian principalities.
