Chisinau may have replica of St Sofia Cathedral of Istanbul

A replica of the Istanbul-based St Sofia Cathedral may be erected in the municipality of Chisinau, Mayor General Dorin Chirtoaca said. According to the mayor, the project should be presented for public debates and to the Moldovan Metropolitan Church and the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia, Info-Prim Neo reports. Dorin Chirtoaca instructed the Division of Architecture, Urbanism and Land Relations to identify several plots on which the church may be built. “For the young generation, this cathedral in Chisinau will represent a symbol of our roots from ethnic and spiritual viewpoints,” the mayor said. “The wish to erect a copy of the Istanbul Cathedral does not mean that the City Hall solved all its problems and intends to construct churches. “Sofia” also means wisdom that is needed by everyone, including the Moldovans,” said the mayor. St Sofia was the cathedral of the Patriarchy of Constantinople, then a mosque. Now it is a museum. During 1,000 years, before the construction of the Cathedral of St Peter in Rome, it had been the largest Christian church.