Romanian Festival (8/20/2017)

Sunday, August 20, 2017

I have always liked this business sign on Kinsman Road

We headed over to the West Side again, this time to St Mary Romanian Orthodox Cathedral for their Romanian Festival.

St Mary Romanian Orthodox Cathedral (1960,
designed by Haralamb Georescu, after a
traditional Romanian church in Maramures style)

The St Mary Church was established in 1904, making it the oldest Romanian church in the United States. It was originally located on Detroit Avenue and the church at #6201 is now part of the Cleveland Public Theater. The congregation moved to the Warren Avenue location in 1960.

Lots of Romanian food available in the Social Hall

Roast pork and potatoes, chicken and dumplings, schnitzel, stuffed cabbage, vegetable stew, sausage and sauerkraut with pork, green beans in a tomato sauce, and:

Mămăligă/Polenta baked with sour cream and cheese

Historic frieze (Part 1) in the Social Hall

Historic frieze (Part 2) in the Social Hall

In 1940, St Mary's was the recipient of artifacts from the Romanian Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. When the church moved to Warren Avenue, the historic copper frieze (which depicts the history of Romania) was incorporated into the Social Hall.

We toured the church, beginning with the baptistery

St Mary Cathedral nave; the iconostasis and
the gold mosaic of St Mary are from the 1960s;
later paintings were added when St Mary's
was elevated to a cathedral in 1999

Side table

Central section of the iconostasis/icon wall
that separates the nave from the sanctuary

Aisle wall with stained glass windows from the 1960s;
the "curtains" are to imitate the tent walls of early churches

Stained glass window of the choir balcony

Example of embroidery on a blouse sleeve, in the museum

More ornate embroidery on a man's jacket

Wooden chair and table from the 1939 World's Fair Romanian Pavilion

Easter eggs painted by Sylvia Banescu with designs
from the region of Făgăraș

Performance of Romanian dancers