Banu Church

The Banu Church (Romanian: Biserica Banu) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 9 Banu Street in Iași, Romania. It is dedicated to All Saints' Day.

The first church on the site was built of oak beams in 1704 by the great ban Savin Zmucila, and had its own graveyard. His title is the source of the nickname. It was blessed by Metropolitan Misail the same year, and it was dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. As opposed to other churches in the city that belonged to foreign churches and held liturgies in Old Church Slavonic or Greek, services at Banu were in Romanian by Romanian priests from the beginning, partly in sign of protest. From early on, the church had valuable books and objects, some from Moldavia and others from abroad. These included a 1643 Cazania (book of sermons), a 1681 Molitvelnic (prayer book) and a 1683 Liturghier (liturgy book), all from Iași; as well as a 1699 Gospel Book in Greek and Latin from Bucharest. By 1799, the city's development had made the church too small for its needs, and it was in disrepair.

Together with the parishioners, Metropolitan Iacob Stamati contributed a large sum of money for a new church; he also supplied the liturgical objects. An architect was hired from Transylvania, building a structure in the classic Russian style. This appears to be the oldest church in Iași that mentions the architect's name on the inscription: Herr Leopold. The carved linden iconostasis is the work of Eustație Altini, who also painted it in 1802. Early the following year, he began painting the church interior, but the work remained incomplete upon Stamati's death that March. In his will, the metropolitan specified that the church would not be subject to foreign control. The foyer of the present church is where the altar of the previous church was, and its dedication was changed to All Saints' Day. The church is in trefoil plan, with side apses on the interior and a semicircular altar apse. There is a bell tower above the narthex; its Baroque style is common to the region. The original structure has not been modified, only repaired. The church was closed from 1821 to 1822, early during the

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