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What did young people think about the National Cathedral after ITO 2026?translated

September 7, 2026 · 1 min read

Young people from Romania and the diaspora spoke to Basilica.ro about the emotions they experienced, the impressions left by the National Cathedral and the joy of participating in one of the most important moments of the meeting.

The visit to the National Cathedral and the meeting with the Blessed Father Patriarch Daniel were among the moments that marked the young participants of the International Meeting of Orthodox Youth (ITO) 2026.

Andrei Streza (22 years old), Archdiocese of Sibiu Andrei Streza Photo: Personal archive "I have always been very excited about any event related to the National Cathedral, so the joy was maximum when I found out that we will participate for three consecutive days in services, conferences and presentations inside it", Andrei Streza said.

The young man said that he is passionate about the field of Christian art: "I was able to fully admire this architectural masterpiece, without being bored for a moment by its beauty and complexity. The iconographic program, of inestimable artistic value, introduced me to a state of continuous fascination".

"The size of the saints and the scenes made in the mosaic technique gave me a feeling of...

Source: Агентство Basilica (română) · Read the full story →

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Daniel Brown

Andrei's point about the mosaic saints really stuck with me. The scale of those figures must hit different when you're standing right under them for three straight days of services. My son is about his age and keeps talking about wanting to visit Bucharest one day, so I showed him this piece.

Photini Brown

The part about the mosaic saints and their huge scale really caught my eye too, especially since Andrei mentioned staring at them for three full days without getting tired of it. My daughter is 24 and she’s the same way about church art; she’d probably spend the whole time with her neck craned back like that. Makes me wonder how the light hits those figures during the evening services.