CHURCH SAINTS CONSTANTIN AND HELEN

The existence of the church is known since the 18th century, where there was a cemetery in the village of Visterniceni, which later became the district of Rîșcani. The church was built in 1777 by Constantine Râșcanu (son of Teodor Râșcanu and son-in-law of Vasile Mazarachi who also had one of the oldest churches in the capital built), but modifications were made later. In 1834, at the request of Iorgu Râșcanu, it gave up its name of Church of the Resurrection of the Lord for that of the Holy Emperors Constantine and Helena. The church was closed by the Soviet authorities in the late 1950s and reopened in 1990. Renovation work began there in 1992. As a result of successive structural changes, it now displays elements of neoclassical style. The current roofs of the towers date from the 1990s and are crowned with silver bulbous domes, an influence of Russian religious architecture. The building consists of a circular nave, with a wide, semicircular apse (where the altar is located) and a square pronaos, above which the bell tower was built. The latter is characterized by a cubic base and a pyramidal spire topped by a bulb. The external appearance of the building is typical of the rural churches of the 17th and 18th centuries. The church is surrounded by a beautiful park and a small old cemetery where some steles and monuments dating back to the 19th century remain.