The photo shows a religious ceremony in the courtyard of the residence of the Greek-Orthodox Bishop in Chernivtsi. From 1873 on he was the Metropolitan of the Bukowina and Dalmatia, being the head of all Orthodox believers in the Habsburg Empire. The impressive structure was buit between 1864 and 1882 and replaced an older residence from the 1780s. It sits on a hill overlooking the city. The ensemble in moorish-byzantine style consists of three wings which surround the inner courtyard: the central Bishop’s residence, the Seminary with a church to the left and the monastery on the right side. Behind the Bishop’s residence there is a large private garden.
The photo shows the entrance gate to the inner courtyard on the right and parts of the monastary building on the left. This building also housed the greek-orthodox theological faculty ot the university of Chernivtsi which attracted students from all over the Empire, south-eastern Europe and the Middle East. After the second Wold War, the orthodox seminary was closed, the Bishop moved to Romania and the building, which was severely damaged by fire during the war, was handed over to the University of Chernivtsi, as main building of which it serves until today.
