The Piarist Church - Timișoara

The Piarist Church or the Catholic Teachers' Church was built between 1908 and 1909 by the Piarist monks, who arrived in Timişoara in 1788, on the site of an old eighteenth-century Franciscan church, which found itself in an advanced state of decay.

The Piarist Church was dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, it was built in an Eclectic and Secession style. The Neo-Byzantine elements are to be noted, as well as the traditional Hungarian decorative elements, among which also some Baroque elements are saved from the old Franciscan church. The church has a tall tower, with a conical roof, flanked by two false buttresses. The side altars were commissioned and executed in Munich.

Along with the new church, the Piarist monks also built a school complex.

The Piarist monks continued their activity after 1948 as well, and during communist times, their church was considered the students' church. The last Piarist in Romania, P. Francisc Valo O.Sch.P., lived here under modest conditions and passed away in 2005.

Text and photo sources: https://www.info-tim.com/; http://timisoara.eventya.eu/