indications. It depicted an eagle rising above "New Jerusalem", to a background displaying the Romanian tricolor (or, officially, the Transylvanian colors). The show drew universal acclaim due to the newness of his style and the combination of popular Romanian motifs and peasant folk art he employed. The fourth show occurred in December at the Decorative art Exhibit in Budapest, and was praised as well, including by Octavian Goga in Luceafărul and by Károly Lyka in Magyar Iparművészet. The latter credited Smigelschi designs for Christian murals as an introduction into Byzantine and Orthodox art, but overall more lively than its canons. Lyka noted that the exhibit had been planned without giving Smigelschi due credit, but that "his name shan't remain unknown for too long." Sibiu cathedral and later years Meanwhile, the old Romanian Orthodox cathedral in Sibiu had been demolished in 1902 and a new building begun. This project drew Smigelschi's attention, who asked "his lifelong friend", journalist Valeriu Braniște, to intervene and help him obtain the commission. In his letter, he declared himself best positioned to promote an "utterly national-Romanian" art that would continue to interest foreigners. A competition opened in November 1903, with fifteen Romanian, German and Hungarian participants. A committee composed of George Demetrescu Mirea, Ion Mincu and Friedrich Miess narrowed the field down to three finalists. In April 1904, Smigelschi was selected to execute the interior painting, having outbid the original favorite, Hans Bulhardt. He was paid 32,000 crowns for the cupola, the pendentives and the iconostasis. At this time, he began to focus on traditional styles of painting, seeking to strike a balance between large-scale murals and the architectural surroundings which they were not supposed to overshadow. Accordingly, in 1904, Smigelschi crossed into the Romanian Old Kingdom as well as the Duchy of Bukovina in order to study the churches and monasteries where the Romanians' spiritual heritage is expressed, familiarizing himself with the Byzantine style that came to complement his knowledge of Renaissance painting. Reluctantly, Smigelschi also had to incorporate suggestions from the monk Elie Miron Cristea. Cristea repeatedly asked him to abandon all influences from Armenian art, which reportedly appeared in his original designs; in private notes, Smigelschi complained that Cristea was uneducated and unproductive. In this second creative period, Smigelschi nearly abandoned all other genres in favor of monumental work. He analyzed old painted churches at Tismana, Cozia, Bistrița, Horezu, Curtea de Argeș, Bucharest,