When he started international criticism as he was demolishing heritage buildings throughout the country, former President Ceaușescu stopped razing off churches, but instead... moved them away from sight. By moving them away I mean cutting them off their foundations and setting them in more ‘convenient’ locations; they were usually fenced off with concrete buildings afterwards. Sometimes this was down a hill. Examples follow.

Mihai Vodă Monastery. Well, this place should have still been called a monastery, but history decided otherwise. It was raised in 1591 by Michael the Brave, on a hill near Dâmbovița River, starting with a church surrounded by defensive walls; it burnt in 1761, being repaired in 1827-1837 and repainted in 1838, as well as fully refurbished in 1935. Around the church Michael the Brave had built princely houses which served at times as school, hospital and host for the estate archives. The church and the bell tower were moved 227 meters on the horizontal and 6,2 meters on the vertical in 1985 and are now completely screened off by tall buildings, while all dependencies, as well as all the nearby area were demolished in 1984-1985. Given the translation procedures, the bell tower nowadays lies to the back of the church and not in its front, as it should. It is well worth visiting, to see portraits of the Romanian royal family: as you enter the church, there are, immediately to the right the portraits of Michael the Brave (the one with a black cap), Marshall Ion Antonescu and King Michael the 1st, while to the left you can see the portrait of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria. GPS - N44 25.894 E26 05.596

Nuns’ Convent (Schitul Maicilor). To the back of the front row of concrete blocks opposite the SE corner of the Palace of the Parliament (the one on the crossing of the Calea 13 Septembrie and Libertății Avenue) one can find a church in a peculiar, if not awkward location. Nuns’ Convent was built in 1726, being restored and having the frescoes redone in 1896, then being refurbished again after the earthquake in 1940. The surrounding, Brâncoveanu style structures were demolished in 1982 to make room for the actual Palace of the Parliament, while the church was the first one to be moved away, 245 m. to the East to the current location, in only 72 hours. The technology was the following: the building was reinforced with concrete injections, belts and pillars, without altering the frescoes or structure. It was then lifted on hydraulic pumps up to 2 meters in the air and it was set on a reinforced concrete frame. It was then set on a railway and moved to the final destination. Schitul Maicilor Church was twice turned, once on the former location to allow a straight movement along a concrete beam railway, then turned again to have the altar to the East. Just a month after being opened in the new location, it was abandoned and reopened for service in 1995, when the painting was redone. The church nowadays bears an ugly glass panel cover around the verandah. N44 25.30 E26 5.31

Sfântul Ioan Nou Church. It was built in 1766 and it was seriously damaged by the 1847 fire, so, during Gheorghe Bibescu's rule, it was greatly restored. Between 1985 and 1986 it escaped Ceaușescu's demolition like through a miracle (almost the whole quarter behind and in front of it, churches, synagogues and historic monuments included were razed off). It was translated from its original setting over 23 meters, under a 37 degree angle and on a 2.8 grade slope, a solution found by the Church Patriarch and two engineers, as otherwise it would have been demolished in no time to make place for the grand avenue in front of it and to disappear from public sight. As if this was not enough, they built two tall concrete buildings in front of it, so as to hide it away (the communists did so with other churches and synagogues as well). Nowadays one can see it from the main avenue like a sandwich, between two ugly, grey concrete monsters. Unfortunately its entrance is often pestered by pirate CD sellers and other scum. GPS - N44 25.767 E26 06.268