BUCHAREST, Romania — Eugeniu Iordachescu, a Romanian civil engineer who devised an ingenious way to save 12 churches and many other historic buildings from being destroyed by the country’s former Communist strongman, has died. Dubbed “the guardian angel” of churches, Iordachescu devised a radical system that placed whole buildings– including churches, monasteries, banks and apartment buildings– on the equivalent of railway tracks and rolled them hundreds of meters (yards) away to save them from destruction. Despite his efforts, the Communists bulldozed some 24 churches in the capital, and the Romanian Orthodox Church was criticized for doing too little to save them. Iordachescu also successfully relocated multi-story apartment buildings in Bucharest and in the Transylvanian city of Alba Iulia. He managed to secure permission for his plans because Ceausescu didn’t want historical buildings and churches to mar his modern urban vision.

Source: National Post January 06, 2019 08:01 UTC