Dobroteasa Church, rebuilt between 1887-1892 after the drawings of the Romanian architect Paul Petricu, is considered one of the earliest foundations in Bucharest: the first wooden church was raised on this site as early as the 16th century. Dobroteasa Church stood once along the former Vacaresti Street, but finds itself today in the midst of a completely altered neighborhood. During the last decades of the communist regime, extensive demolitions of the area were ordered by the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, as part of an ambitious, large urban systematization project. The intention was to transform Bucharest into a model socialist city. The final product of that ambition was an unmitigated disaster of destruction and urban blight.
Dobroteasa Church survived this upheaval. Well proportioned and imposing and recently restored, Dobroteasa is one of the most elegant churches in Bucharest.