Church of Saint Nicholas, Timișoara

The first settlers of Mehala, the Serbs, belonged to the Orthodox religious community. In 1744 they founded their then joint Serbian-Romanian parish. The St. Nicholas Church is the oldest documented building of the Mehala district and was built of brick between 1786 and 1793. Its tower houses an old clock mechanism and five bells. In the 19th century, the interior carpentry and the iconostasis were executed. The chairs were made by Gheorghe Liblaitner, the furniture of the iconostasis by Mihajlo Janić, and the icons are the work of the painter Sava Petrović. The painting of the interior walls was done by Nicolae Alexici. The church saw gun firing during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and was later used as an animal shelter for six months. It was rehabilitated in 1870 from donations from parishioners. The Church of Saint Nicholas has had a huge impact on the Serb community in the area. It once had a denominational school, a football team that played matches in Croatia and Serbia and an active choir called Zora. In the past, each member of the choir wore a special badge. == Architecture ==

The church's architecture appears somewhat disproportionate. Its nave is unusually long, and the interior forms a cross-shaped plan, with lateral extensions near the soleia and an arched apse at the eastern end. Above the western section, over the soleia, a balcony was constructed for members of choral societies, and above this rises the bell tower, which originally housed five bells and a clock mechanism. These were removed during the Revolution of 1848, melted down for cannon production, and later replaced through the work of local craftsmen. The facades are highly decorative, with arched niches separated by pilasters resting on substantial bases. Each pilaster is capped with a capital beneath a profiled cornice. On the northern and southern facades, the lower sections feature segmentally arched, double-leaf wooden doors, intricately carved. In the upper sections, arched windows are positioned along the axes of the niches. The niches are embellished with horizontal grooves, while the upper arched portions display grooves arranged radially. On the northern side, beneath the bell tower, there is a rectangular window framed with a profile, and directly below it lies a profiled banks. The western facade, which houses the main entrance to the church, is framed by Doric columns supporting a triangular tympanum with profiled edges. The central portion of the bell tower is flanked by blank walls, while pilasters with profiled capitals are positioned at its corners. A double profiled cornice follows the curvature of the clock dial. On the northern side of the bell tower, a single arched window with a profiled frame is present. Beneath each window is a profiled bank, followed by a rectangular panel containing four oval recesses. Above the window zone, clock faces are situated on all four sides of the bell tower. The tower is capped with a wooden lantern covered in sheet metal, topped by a gilded cross. == See also ==