This small church is one of the most beautiful in the city. It was built in 1724 during the ruling of Phanariot Prince Nicolae Mavrocordat by the Greek monk Ioanichie. The church is representative for the Brancovenesc style which blends Ottoman and Western elements together with traditional Romanian architectural forms. The inside is equally beautiful, with wood and stone carvings and paintings and frescoes. Address: junction of Postei Street with Stavropoleos Street.

Stavropoleos Monastery (Romanian: Mănăstirea Stavropoleos), also known as Stavropoleos Church (Romanian: Biserica Stavropoleos) during the last century when the monastery was dissolved, is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for nuns in central Bucharest, Romania. Its church is built in Brâncovenesc style. The patrons of the church (the saints to whom the church is dedicated) are St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel. The name Stavropoleos is a Romanian rendition of a Greek word, Stauropolis, meaning "The city of the Cross". One of the monastery's constant interests is Byzantine music, expressed through its choir and the largest collection of Byzantine music books in Romania.

The church was built in 1724, during the reign of Nicolae Mavrocordat (Prince of Wallachia, 1719-1730), by archimandrite Ioanichie Stratonikeas. Within the precinct of his inn, Ioanichie built the church, and a monastery which was economically sustained with the incomes from the inn (a relatively common situation in those times). In 1726 abbot Ioanichie was elected metropolitan of Stavropole and exarch of Caria. Since then the monastery he built is named Stavropoleos, after the name of the old seat. On February 7, 1742 Ioanichie, aged 61, died and was buried in his church.

As early as 1716, at the time building work was begun on Stavropoleos, Bucharest witnessed the ambition of Nicolae Mavrocordat to erect an monumental edifice at Vacaresti, the monastery that was to immortalise his name. This ambition can be explained in the context the preceding decades, when many imposing structures had been erected not only by the Voievod Constantin Brancoveanu, but also by boyars, townspeople, villagers and, in particular, dignitaries and the clergy. The monastery was finished in 1722 and housed the prince’s priceless library and a Greek school. It was later to become a necropolis, where the prince was laid to rest on 3 September 1730. Nicolae Mavrocordat also founded the Metropolitan Chapel (1723). Tragically, however, the Vacaresti Monastery was destroyed in 1984 at the orders of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Between Lipscani Street and Stavropoleos Street, near the site later acquired by Hieromonk Ioanichie for his buildings, the Ghiorma Banul Church, or Greeks’ Church (Greeks’ Inn), had been built in 1565. It was subsequently rebuilt and repainted, in the years 1713-1714, by the Archbishop of Pogoniana, Eftimie of Dipalitza, with work being completed in 1719. In the vicinity, the church also had an large monastic inn, which finally succumbed to the ravages of time in 1863.

Another old church occupied the space now dominated by the central CEC building on Calea Victoriei: the monastery of Saint John the Great-Grecesc, constructed in 1591 and rebuilt in 1703 at the command of martyr Voievod Constantin Brancoveanu. In order to increase revenues, its administrators had fitted out an inn in the surrounding buildings during the first decades of the eighteenth century. The buildings, which had become more and more run-down, were finally demolished between 1862 and 1864.

The specific economic activities of the district near the Greek Quarter were marked in particular by the presence of an inn with shops, erected in the Italian style by the Voievod Serban Cantacuzino (1680-1687). Within the quadrilateral of this inn there were dozens of rooms and stores, and it was reckoned to be among the most renowned in the city. Having deteriorated, the inn was partially closed down in 1864 and then completely in 1883. The Palace of the National Bank was built on the site, bounded by Lipscani Sreet, Doamnei Street and Smardan Street (formerly Nemteasca Lane).

To the south of the future precincts of Stavropoleos, the Saint Dumitru Church was built in the closing decades of the seventeenth century through the assiduity of Badea Balaceanu the high Vornic [minister of domestic affairs] (1687-1687). It was also known to contemporaries as the Church of the Oath, as a result of the testimonies made there under invocation of divine punishment. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the voievod of Brancoveanu descent constructed a new inn on a site to the west of this church. The prince had confiscated the land from the son of Badea Balaceanu, the Aga Constantin Balaceanu, a partisan of imperial policy who was killed at the battle of Zarnesti in 1690. The inn building, impressive for its time, was situated between Frantuzeasca Lane and Postei Street. In 1862, after it had been extensively damaged in a fire and pulled down, the Bucharest city council ordered construction on the site of the monumental edifice of the Post Office, which later became the National Museum of History.

The inn and the monastery's annexes were demolished at the end of 19th century. Over time the church suffered from earthquakes, which caused the dome to fall. The dome's paintings were restored at the beginning of the 20th century.

All that remains from the original monastery is the church, alongside a building from the beginning of the 20th century which shelters a library, a conference room and a collection of old (early 18th century) icons and ecclesiastical objects, and parts of wall paintings recovered from churches demolished during the communist regime. This new building was constructed following the plans of architect Ion Mincu.

The church has been pastored since 1991 by father Iustin Marchiş, the first hieromonk of the church in the last century. The community living here, besides routine worship, is engaged in renovating old books, icons and sacerdotal clothes. The choir of the church sings (neo-)Byzantine music (a single voice part, sustained by a prolonged sound called ison - approx. translation: accompaniment -, or tonic note), now a rare occurrence for churches in Romania.

The monastery's library has over 8000 books of theology, byzantine music, arts and history. There are patristic, biblical, dogmatic, liturgic, historical, homiletic, catechetic writings, classic languages dictionaries and textbooks, studies on Byzantine art and Orthodox iconography, and on the Romanian history and civilization of the 18th century. Some of the books are from the donated personal library of art historian Vasile Drăguț, former rector of the Bucharest University of Arts.

There is a significant number of old books: more than 80 manuscripts and 400 printed works. There are Romanian, Greek, and Church Slavonic books. The Byzantine music books collection is the largest in Romania, and consists mostly of the donations of two Romanian byzantologists, Sebastian Barbu-Bucur, and Titus Moisescu. The monastery has started a virtual library project by digitizing its old books.

The music sung during the offices is neo-Byzantine, based on the works of 19th century Romanian psalmodists: Macarie the Hieromonk, Nectarie the Hermit, Anton Pann, Dimitrie Suceveanu, Greek chants translated into Romanian, or modern compositions.

The Stavropoleos Byzantine Choir was created in 1994, and is led by archdeacon Gabriel Constantin Oprea who officiates and chants at the Stavropoleos Church and teaches Byzantine music at the National University of Music Bucharest. The group has performed in Romania and abroad, and they are issuing their music on CDs.