The Saint George Cathedral of Timișoara (Catedrala Sfântul Gheorghe din Timișoara) is a Roman Catholic cathedral on Union Square (Piața Unirii) in the historic old town of Timișoara.
The cathedral was built in two stages from 1736 to 1751 and from 1755 to 1774 respectively. The Baroque-style edifice is thought to have been designed by the Austrian architect Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach. The official consecration of the cathedral took place on April 24, 1803, one day after the feast of Saint George, to which the cathedral was dedicated.
During the siege of Timișoara in 1849, the cathedral was heavily damaged. Citizens who were using the cathedral as a shelter had to flee into its crypt when a bomb tore down the roof.
The Saint George Cathedral is considered one of the most unitary and representative Baroque constructions of Timișoara and the cathedral is also the second largest Baroque church in the Balkans, after the Cathedral Basilica Saint Mary in Oradea. The cathedral is built on wooden pillars and measures a length of 55 meters and a width of 22 meters. The nave has a height of 16.9 meters and the two towers each reach a height of 35.5 meters. The building is made of brick in the shape of a cross, with external ornaments made of stucco and stone.
The cathedral has nine altars which were sculptured in Baroque and Rococo style by Johannes Müller. The painting above the main altar depicting Saint George fighting a dragon, was made by Unterberger in 1754. The current organ, a replica of the one in the Church of Sain-Sculpice in Paris, was built in 1907 to replace an older organ from 1757. The basement below the cathedral is a crypt where biships, canons, and high ranking millitary commanders were buried for centuries.
