The postcard shows a part of the building 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. In the 1880s the top of this hill behind the gardens of the Residence got the name Habsburgshöhe. The driving force behind the project was Bishop Eugen Hacman, the architect was Josef Hlavka from Bohemia. The necessary amount of 1,75 million Guilders came mainly from the funds of the Greek-Orthodox Church of the Bukowina (Griechisch Orientalischer Religionsfonds). The ensemble in moorish-byzantine style consists of three wings which surround an 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 postcard shows the Synodalsaal (synodal hall), also called Marble Hall. The biggest hall of the Residence (16 by 22 meters) was the place where the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church met. The walls are decorated with frescos depicting scenes from church history and the history of the Bukowina by the Viennese Karl Swoboda (for example the painting above the main door showing Jesus sending out the apostles to the world). The marble plaque in the corner commemorates the fact that the unity of the Bukowina with Romania was proclaimed in this hall in 1918 (unilaterally by an assembly of Romanians). The hall was severely damaged by fire during the war and rebuilt in a simplfied form. The frescos are all gone. Today it is the main festive hall of the Chernivtsi University.<br /><em>Helmut Kusdat</em>