The Buildings from the Unification s Square


       On the Southern side of the Unification s Square, across from
   the canonical houses, on the corner of Rodnei Street, there is
   an old governmental building the Baroc Palace, built in 1754
   called then  Casa Comitatului, or The House of the County. It
   has two stories and a garret, and two beautiful Viennese baroc
   gates. After the restoration, the building will house the Art
   Museum of Banat. Long ago, the palace, between 1779-1848, was
   the residence of the count of the lands of Banat. Between 1849
   and 1860, the palace was a Viovodina governmental building
   housing the government and the administration of the Timisan
   Banat; in 1861, became again The House of the County. 1767 is
   the year when, after more the 300 years, the first monarch
   arrived at Timisoara, the Emperor Josef II; between May 7 and 8,
   1872, the Emperor Franz Josef I rested in this palace; then, in
   1923, their Majesties King Ferdinand I and Queen Mary stopped
   here for three days (on November 9 through 12) while on a trip
   to visit the towns and villages of Banat. After the festive
   receiving from the railway station, His Majesty, accompanied by
   his prime minister Ionel Bratianu, crossed the town dressed
   for the holiday to participate at a festive religious service at
   the Romanian Orthodox cathedral; the king visited all the other
   nationalities churches, blessed the building of the Polytechnic
   School and laid a brick at the new theater foundation. The big
   and luxurious council meeting hall, as well as the small meeting
   hall, were decorated with paintings depicting the historical
   past of the town. The Agricultural Institute was housed in this
   palace for a short period of time.

      On the western side, across the Dome, there are the Serbian
   Church and the palace of the Serbian Orthodox diocese. The two
   buildings were caught on fire in 1728. After this calamity,
   until 1745, there was only a prayer house in this district, the
   parish from Fabric taking care of the believers.

      Gheorghe Popovic, the bishop of Nish, started, with the help
   of private donations (1745-1748), the construction of the church
   -at the beginning without towers- and the bishopric residence,
   when he became the bishop of the Orthodox Church from Timisoara.
   In 1791, the church was restored, under the bishop Petru
   Petrovic, and the two towers were finished. The two towers
   house five bells, one of them weighing 800 kilograms. The church
   was used by Romanian and Serbian Orthodox believers until the
   XIX century when the Romanian and Serbian churches split. As a
   result of goods division, the cathedral, the palace and
   surrounding houses were passed to the Serbian Church. In 1906
   the bishop Dr. Gheorghe Letic initiated the detailed restoration
   of the church. The palace and a new building were added. The
   church iconostasis is the masterpiece of the sculptor Mihailo
   Janic (1833-1836), six from the icons being painted by the
   painter Constantin Daniel (1798-1873) from Timisoara [12].
   There are also other sixteen icons in the church signed by this
   domestic painter. The church was declared historical monument on
   August 24, 1964. The front of the palace is dominated by a
   balcony and the bishopric coat of arms placed above it. The
   interior houses the Serbian Orthodox Vicariate and a museum
   where objects from the monasteries and churches from Ciacova,
   Sinpetru-Mare, Ivanda, Foeni, Petrovaselo and Bezdin can be
   admired. The collection is filled with a grate number of
   engravings some of them belonging to Zaharia Stefanovic
   Orfelini (1726-1785), a great cultural personality of the
   Serbians from Banat. This artist was also known as a copper
   engraver, writer-calligrapher, author of school manuals,
   historian, poet, physicist, and editor. The museum has also a
   collection of old religious books from 1690 (imprinted in
   Vienna), some from the XVII and XVIII centuries, a silver cross
   from 1762 and other valuable objects.