“Holy Cross” Chapel
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About
In Sibiu, even before the year 1242, on the outside of the citadel walls, there was a church of the Dominican Monks Order.
In 1417, the Austrian sculptor Peter Lantregen chiselled in stone a monumental crucifix with two characters, Pained Virgin Mary and Saint Apostle John. The giant crucifix was in the church of the monastery. Being located on the outside of the citadel’s walls, the Dominican monastery is frequently exposed to enemy attacks, reason for which the monks deserted it in the second half of the 15th century subsequently building a new institution, the current church of the Ursulines.
After the fire and demolition of the old Dominican church, the giant crucifix was fallen to the ground and covered by rubble until a 1683 when the city Council raised the cross again.
IN 1755 the Transylvanian counsellor Martin Wankel von Seeberg required the construction of a chapel around the monolithic cross, which is preserved today. In 1954, „Sfânta Cruce” chapel (“Holy Cross”) was declared historical monument.
Over more than 50 years the chapel was cared for by the Polish refugee community of Sibiu from Basarabia and Bucovina.