page_title: Culture of Romania
section_title: Spirituality and religion
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Romania / Traditions / Spirituality and religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial view of historic Şchei district — in the city of Braşov. With Romanian Orthodox walled compound of Saint Nicholas church and St Nicholas cemetery. Located in southeastern Transylvania, central Romania. Română: Şchei, Brasovului — Biserica Sfantu Nicolae, din cimitirul.
context_page_description: The culture of Romania is the product of its geography and its distinct historical evolution. It is theorized and speculated that Romanians and the Vlachs are the combination of descendants of Roman colonists and people indigenous to the region who were Romanized.
  The Dacian people, one of the major indigenous peoples of southeast Europe are one of the predecessors of the Proto-Romanians. It is believed that a mixture of Dacians, Romans, Slavs, and Illyrians are the predecessors of the modern Romanians, Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, and Istro-Romanians. Modern Romanian culture visibly reflects a tremendous amount of Eastern European influences. In addition, Romanian culture shares several similarities with other ancient cultures such as that of the Armenians.
context_section_description: Romanian spirituality is greatly influenced by its strong connections with the Eastern Christian world. The modern national mythology contends Romanians are An island of Latinity in a Slavic sea and The only Orthodox Christian Latin people. There are only a few Romanian Catholics (of both the Roman and Greek rites) and a small number of Protestants, the vast majority of Romanians being Romanian Orthodox (over 81%). Despite the diminishing importance of the church in recent generations, it remains the most trusted institution in Romania. Church attendance is high in rural communities and among the elders in the cities. Also, despite accusations of collaborationism with the communist regime, which continue to plague the Romanian Church, some clerics such as Dumitru Stăniloae and Richard Wurmbrandt openly protested against political interventions in religious business. There are also some Muslims living in the country.
  Romanian Orthodox monasteries and churches exist throughout Romania, but traditionally, few are constructed on a monumental scale. A great number of wooden churches are still intact in the Carpathian Mountains villages, but by far the most impressive are the Wooden Churches of Maramureş which push wood building technique to its limits. Byzantine influences can be found in most Romanian church buildings but domestic styles have evolved in different periods of time and in different regions. In Moldavia, a particular style was used in the construction of the monasteries, of which some of the most important are the churches of northern Moldavia – UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as those of Moldoviţa, Putna, Suceviţa, or Voroneţ. In Wallachia, Curtea de Argeş Cathedral was built in a Byzantine style with Moorish influences, and a great number of churches show Greek influences, especially those built in the 18th century, such as Stavropoleos Church in central Bucharest. Romania also evolved the distinctive Brâncovenesc style: the monasteries of Snagov and of Sâmbăta de Sus in Transylvania are classical examples.
caption: St. Nicholas Church, Brașov in Brașov
exif: {"Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "SP550UZ", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:09:19 22:02:09", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "948", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1734", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10894", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "23/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:07:21 14:58:46", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:07:21 14:58:46", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "1413/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1608", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "c8811b1f68208362068c0086c39b2d7f"}