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World Record Academy: Bucharest has “longest choreographed fountain system”

The World Record Academy has recognized the recently re-designed fountains in Bucharest’s Unirii Square as “the longest choreographed fountain system” in the world. The fountains underwent a revamping process, which required an investment of EUR 7 million. Apa Nova, the company that manages Bucharest’s water and sewage system, carried out the project. The 44 fountains…

Sep 6, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Queen Helen’s remains to be moved to Curtea de Arges Cathedral

The remains of Queen Helen will be moved to the New Archbishopric and Royal Cathedral of Curtea de Arges, under a decision by the Romanian Crown Custodian, Margareta. „71 years after Queen Helen’s exile and 37 years after her passing, Her Majesty Margareta has decided to bring her grandmother’s remains to Curtea de Arges, in…

Sep 3, 2019Mihail Mere-Albe

A new chapter for the cultural and tourist development of St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai

The Egyptian government gave the green light for the expansion of St. Catherine International Airport in Sinai. The project, to be completed in less than two years, will upgrade the entire area, including the Greek-Orthodox Saint Catherine’s Monastery. The project, backed by the governor of South Sinai, General Khaled Fouda, has already been approved by…

Aug 28, 2019Mihail Mere-Albe

Orthodox monasteries featured on new Romanian passport

The new Romanian passport that started being issued from January 2019 has a unique design that features important touristic attractions including three Orthodox monasteries: Curtea de Arges, Barsana and Tismana. Romania’s simple electronic and temporary passports are among the most difficult to falsify travel documents, stated the police chief Mirel Toanca, the head of the…

Aug 26, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Fanouropita: Greek cake for lost items

Fanouropita is a Greek fasting-appropriate cake brought as an offering to Saint Phanourios for helping people find lost things and not only. Saint Phanourios is also interceded for finding one’s way in life, for finding a spouse, for receiving inner peace or other things. Numerous stories abound about how the saint became associated with finding…

Aug 26, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Iași Archdiocese’s Department for Minorities organizes summer camp for Roma youth at Zmeu

One hundred Roma children and young people participated in ‘The Camp of Joy’, organized on August 21-22 at Zmeu Parish by the Department for Minorities of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Iași. “This camp, as well as all the other camps and activities that will follow, are part of a missionary program that we want to…

Aug 26, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Will our nation perish? Romania’s population keeps shrinking mainly due to declining birth rates

Romania’s population declined by 5,365 people in June this year due to demographic factors, especially because of declining birth rates, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS). By comparison, the population dropped by 2,636 people in the same month of 2018. A total of 14,506 babies were born in Romania in June 2019,…

Aug 23, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Roman & Bacau Archdiocese to purchase house for young family of priest who tragically died in car accident

The Orthodox Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău has initiated the process of purchasing a home in Bacău for the wife and four young children of the newly-reposed priest Fr. Marius Gabriel Bărăscu, according to a diocesan press release.  Fr. Marius died in a tragic car accident on August 7, the day before his 35th birthday,…

Aug 22, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

Tech-savvy Romanians introduce ‘Sotiras’, an Orthodox alternative to Facebook

A group of tech-savvy Romanians are currently testing Sotiras, a new social platform that could be an Orthodox alternative to Facebook. Their initiative has the blessing of the Romanian monks from the Annunciation Kellia of the Romanian Lakkoskete on Mount Athos. The new social networking website ‘aims at promoting beauty, normality, and Christian values’, reads…

Aug 22, 2019Aurelian Iftimiu

King Ferdinand on the Romanian national currency

The National Bank of Romania will put into circulation on August 27, 2019 for numismatic purposes, gold and brass collector coins, along with a brass circulation coin, dedicated to the Completion of the Great Union – King Ferdinand I, the Unifier. Obverse of the gold coin: images of King Ferdinand I’s and Queen Maria’s first visit to Transylvania…

Aug 16, 2019Mihail Mere-Albe

Romanian capital buys 130 hybrid buses from Mercedes-Benz

Authorities in the Romanian capital Bucharest has announced on August 12 the purchase of 130 hybrid buses from Mercedes-Benz. In addition to the 400 Euro 6 buses purchased last year, the hybrid buses purchased now with non-reimbursable financing will contribute to the improvement of public transport in the capital, to the renewal of the public…

Aug 14, 2019Mihail Mere-Albe