Romanian officials have raised the possibility of reviving a years-old project to build a huge People's Salvation Cathedral at the heart of Bucharest - a project initiated by late Romanian Patriarch Teoctist, who died on Monday.

Bucharest mayor Adriean Videanu said on Wednesday that he hoped the project would be relaunched by the eind of his term in office.

Senate’s speaker, Nicolae Vacaroiu declared on Tuesday that the biggest wish of the Patriarch was to see the Cathedral built.

The terrain where the Cathedral was set to be built is located right behind the Parliament Palace - one of the biggest buildings in the world, formerly known as ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's House of the People. The land for the Cathedral measures almost 11 acres.

Late last year, the land was given to the Romanian Church even if more than a third of is subject to controversy as the rightful owners were dispossessed of their plots during the Communist era.

The Bucharest City Hall has already approved the plan regulating the construction of the Cathedral. The building is designed to be higher than that of the Parliament, which will make it visible from any location in Bucharest.

The cleric’s plans raised controversies along the years, mainly focused upon the chosen location.

Initially, the proposed location was the Unirea Square and later the Carol Park. However, President Basescu, at the time mayor of Bucharest, refused to accept the locations, which led to the abandonment of the project.