The Cathedral of St Nicholas was finished in 1865, a typical late-19th-century Orthodox church with a cream facade, twin towers and a tall central dome. It sits a couple of blocks back from the Danube riverfront, on a small landscaped square in the older part of the city. Patron saint of sailors and travellers, Nicholas is the appropriate dedication for a Danube port town.
The interior was given a thorough wall-to-wall fresco programme in the early 20th century — heavy on saints, icons of the Romanian royal family, and depictions of the Black Sea fishing and shipping life. It is worth a quiet wander as part of a downtown walk; the sea-blue and gold of the dome above the iconostasis is the visual highlight.