The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Timi║oara (ôThe Domeö) was built between 1736 and 1754 by order of Emperor Charles VI. In 1733, this emperor had made Timi║oara the centre of a Roman Catholic diocese. The cathedral is a masterpiece of the Viennese Baroque and was entirely built by Viennese artists and masters: the design is the work of architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach (1693-1742), the inside sculptures decorating the altar were made by Johann Joseph Rossler (1700-1772), and the paintings were made by Michael Angelo Unterberger (1695-1758). The impressive organ, created by Paul Hanke, was replaced in the 19th century by a new one, made by the masters of the Timi║oara workshop of Leopold Vegenstein. The cathedral houses many highly valuable objects of religious art, including a ceremonial cross, a bell and a big tower clock.
The main theme of the altar paintings is Saint George slaying the Dragon. The Saint is the patron saint of the church and the protector of the Christians in the fights with the Turks. The cathedral shelters the tombs of various great dignitaries of the Banat Region. Damaged during Turkish attacks between 1778 and 1790 and the siege laid by Hungarian revolutionaries to the city in 1849, the cathedral was restored in the early 1980s.
