Chisinau City Hall building
At the end of the 19th century, the then-mayor of the city, Karol Schmidt, initiated the construction of a new headquarters for the City Duma (town hall) on the site previously occupied by the fire station. The design was entrusted to the city architect Mitrofan Elladi. The renowned architect Alexandru...
Cathedral of Christ’s Nativity, Bell Tower,Triumphal Arch
The cathedral was built between 1830-1836. The idea of building such an important object of worship belonged to Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. But the foundation stone was laid only 9 years after his death. The architect Avraam Melnikov, chosen by competition, used the late neoclassical style (empiric style) for the building,...
Church of the Mother of God (Măzărache Church,1752)
The oldest building (including ecclesiastical) that has survived to date on the territory of present-day Chisinau, and the only one that preserves medieval Moldovan architecture. The Măzărache Church is documented in 1752 (year of consecration). It is popularly named after its founder – the nobleman, merchant of Chisinau Vasile Măzărache....
Parliament of the Republic of Moldova
Built between 1976 and 1979, the building has the curious shape of an “open book”. The authors were the architects Alexandru Cerdanțev and Grigore Bosenco. Designed from the beginning as an administrative building to house the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the MSSR, this building was prepared in...
Presidental Palace of the Republic of Moldova
The building, constructed between 1984 and 1987, was designed by architects Iuri Tumanian, A. Zalțman, and V. Iavorski. Initially conceived as an administrative facility to accommodate the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan SSR, the structure was repurposed in the early 1990s, with minimal modifications, to serve as the seat of...
Government House
The building that currently houses the Government of the Republic of Moldova was built between 1960-1965, according to the project of the architect S. Fridlin. It is located in the Grand National Assembly Square in Chisinau, on the site of the former headquarters of the Metropolitan Church and the Diocesan...
Triumphal Arch
From an architectural perspective, a triumphal arch is a monument in the form of an arched portico, featuring one or more arches, constructed to commemorate a significant event or honor a notable personality. For urban planning purposes, it is typically situated in one of the city squares, marking the axis...
City Gate
The idea of building two multi-level residential buildings and the symbolic concept of the “City Gate” on the road from the airport to Chisinau belonged to Yuri Tumanyan. His wife and colleague Yulia Skvortsova designed it together with the institute’s team. The “City Gate” was built from panel blocks in...
Chisinau International Airport
The current terminal dates back to the Soviet era, having been built in the 1970s. Thus, the construction style is very similar to other small airports in the former Soviet Union—a single terminal built to handle domestic flights, without customs or security facilities. This prompted the airport management to completely...
Organ Hall
The building of the Organ Hall has a unique beauty. Initially, the Organ Hall building was designed as the City Bank. In 1902 the Municipal Council of Chisinau launched a competition of architectural projects with a prize of 1,500 rubles, which was a relatively large amount in those days. The...
Hertza House
Not far from the Parliament building, along Stefan the Great Boulevard, stands a house that resembles a cake – the city villa of Titular Counselor Vladimir Herz, constructed in 1903, purportedly designed by the Austrian architect Heinrich Lonsky in the style of Viennese Baroque. The building takes on the appearance...
Lesea Ukrainka Library
Library of Ukrainian Literature and Culture “Lesea Ukrainka” – branch of the Municipal Library “B.P.Hașdeu” was opened on February 16, 1991, as a result of the project to create a center of Ukrainian language, culture and traditions. The specificity of the library consists in the following fact: it is the...
„Mykhailo Kotsyubinsky” Lyceum
„Mykhailo Kotsyubinsky” Lyceum is an educational institution of the municipality. It is located in the center of Chisinau. The building of the lyceum is of historical value: it was founded in 1864 by a pupil of the famous architect Alxandr Bernardazzi. Here in 1873-1918 there was the local superintendence of...
Vladimir Tsyganko
Vladimir Tsyganko (1886 – 1919) Outstanding architect, Ukrainian, author of the project of the building of the National Museum of Nature and Ethnography of RM, designed in pseudo-Moorish style. He also designed the National Museum of History and the Balsa Shelter (now the building of the A. Cantemir Lyceum on...
The Academy of Sciences of Moldova
The Academy of Sciences of Moldova (hereinafter referred to as the Academy of Sciences – ASM) is a public institution of national importance, autonomous and independent of the state authorities and successor to the Academy of Sciences of the Moldovan SSR, established on August 2, 1961, reorganized based on the...
National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History
Its history begins in 1889, when the Zemstva of Bessarabia organized the first Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition, which was also the basis for the foundation of the museum institution. Being the oldest museum in the Republic of Moldova, its name has often been changed over the years. Today it holds...
„Ciprian Porumbescu” Muzical Lyceum
The present Lyceum (once a simple 10-year school) was established in October 1940 as a specialized secondary school next to the Conservatory (later – “G. Musicescu”), under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic. The school was directed by F. Lujanski, about 132 teachers worked there, among them E. ZAC,...
Library “Hristo Botev”
Library “Hristo Botev” (branch BM “B.P. Hasdeu” Chisinau) At the 30th anniversary of its activity the “Hristo Botev” branch of the BM “B.P.Hasdeu” has become a focal point of the Bulgarian culture in Chisinau. This statement is proved by the fabulous activity of the given institution. It offers the possibility...
“Serghei Lunchevici” National Philharmonic
Founded in 1940, during its 75 years of activity, the “Serghei Lunchevici” National Philharmonic has become the most important concert institution in the Republic of Moldova, carrying out a wide range of activities in various directions: academic music, popular music, light music and jazz. At the National Philharmonic, the most...
Railway Station
At the end of the 19th century, the Chisinau railway station held paramount significance as the city’s most crucial edifice, owing to the fact that, during that era, the fastest and most pivotal mode of transportation was the railway. The initial construction of the railway station occurred in the 1870s,...
Catargi Mansion
One of the most cultured women in Bessarabia was Olga Catargi (15.03.1850 – 4.09.1917), recognized in her time as a landowner and a generous philanthropist. She was the daughter of Stolnic Nicolae Catargi, who, in 1874, arranged her marriage to her cousin Ion Catargi, a graduate of the Petersburg Law...
The ruins of the Beit Taara burial synagogue
The Funeral Synagogue (Beit Taara – literally – House of Purification) is the place where the deceased were washed before burial. This Synagogue is located in the old Jewish cemetery in Skulianka. Currently it is in a dilapidated state. It is believed to have been built in the mid-19th century.
The “Ion Creanga” State Pedagogical University of Chisinau
The “Ion Creanga” State Pedagogical University of Chisinau was formed according to the Decision of the Government of the Moldovan S.S.R. of August 16, 1940, with the initial name of Moldovan State Pedagogical Institute, which in 1955 was renamed “ION CREANGĂ” State Pedagogical Institute of Chisinau. In 1992, on the...
Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova
The Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova (ASEM) was founded on September 25, 1991, on the basis of Decision No. 537 of the Government of the Republic of Moldova. Two faculties of the State University – “Economics”; “Economics of Trade and Merceology” – and the Institute of National Economy of...
The old Prison Castle
At the beginning of the 19th century, Chisinau, having become the centre of the province of Bessarabia, began to develop rapidly. Houses were built, institutions were set up, the population grew considerably. But there was no prison. Instead, there were several guardhouses scattered throughout the city, which were used to...
Mansion of Nazarov
The building was first documented in 1900 when it was transferred from the brothers Ivan and Nicolai Lebedev to the merchant Jacob Nazarov. We also know that the Adrianov family lived here, and later, the Jewish Hana Epștein is also mentioned. The first distinctive feature of this architectural monument is...
Wooden Synagogue
The building of the former Wooden Synagogue was built in 1835, and for more than 100 years served as the site of one of the city’s central synagogues. Today, only the façade of the original building remains. After passing through the guarded gate, you will find yourself in the courtyard...
Mimi’s Mansion
The urban villa of Alexandru Mimi is an architectural monument of national significance, listed in the Register of Monuments of History and Culture of the municipality of Chisinau, located in the historic center at Bucharest Street, 106 A. In 1870, Alexandru Mimi, the father of the future governor of Bessarabia...
The former gymnasium for girls founded by Princess N. Dadiani
Constructed in 1901 based on a design by architect Alexandru Bernardazzi and commissioned by Princess Natalia Dadiani, this building has a rich history. Prior to its construction, the site held an old real estate property, which State Councilor Mitrofan Purișkevici sold to the Council of the girls’ gymnasium. Princess Dadiani...
The Râșcanu-Derojinski urban mansion
The urban mansion at 62 Bucharest Street, known as the Râșcanu-Derojinski mansion, was once a splendid monument of national significance that adorned the historic center of the capital for decades. Constructed in the 1870s according to the design by city architect Alexander Bernardazzi, this manor belonged to the noblewoman Catherine...
Kligman House
Architectural monument of national significance, officially recorded in the Register of Monuments of History and Culture by the municipality of Chisinau, following the initiative of the Academy of Sciences. In the mid-19th century, Major-General’s wife Maria Markiva constructed a single-story house at the intersection of Sfatul Țării Street, adhering to...
Teodor Sabau’s House
The archaeological site known as the “Ruins of the Church Museum – Episcopal House – Teodor Sabau’s House” will be included in the Register of Historical Monuments of Local Significance in the municipality of Chisinau. In addition to the classification of the site as a historical monument, the proposed decision...
The building of the former gymnasium for girls
The building of the former girls’ gymnasium, founded by Baroness Iulia von Heyking (Gheiking), is a monument of architecture of national significance, located at 85 Alexei Mateevici Street in Chisinau, which is currently in an advanced state of deterioration. The building was constructed in 1886 as the residence of the...
Casso House
The first documented information on the property dates back to 1863 when it belonged to the college secretary Aristotle Londis. In 1867, this property was purchased by Yulia Vichentievna Yanuchyevsky, the wife of retired porcupine, and in 1869, she commissioned the construction of a house with a basement. The project...
“Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu” Municipal Library Building
The history of the building that houses the Municipal Library “Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” in Chisinau began in 1835 when the municipality allocated a plot of land for individual construction to the family of college counselor Ivan Monastarsky, a clerk at the Spiritual Consistory of Bessarabia. The house, designed with two floors,...
The National Museum of Literature “Mihail Kogălniceanu”
The National Museum of Literature “Mihail Kogălniceanu” was established in the autumn of 1965 under the auspices of the Writers’ Union of Moldova. The museum’s collection comprises over 100 thousand exhibits, including books, art objects, and documents. Originally named the Republican Museum of Literature of the MSSR, it received several...
Zemstvо Museum
The Zemstvo Museum, listed in the Register of Architectural Monuments as the “Building of the former orphanage, later the headquarters of the Zemstva Guberniale of Bessarabia,” is a historical building located at 103 Alexei Shciusev Street in Chisinau. It is a monument of architectural and historical significance on a national...
Former Seat of the County Council
The building, where the Union of Bessarabia with Romania was voted in 1918, is today the seat of the Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts. Here, the young generation of artists is trained, engaging in theater performances, learning directing, and rehearsing, sometimes until midnight. Over 100 years ago, the...
The former gymnasium for girls of the Bessarabian Zemstva
The private gymnasium for girls, which was set to relocate its headquarters to this building, was founded in 1864 by Liubovi Beliugova. At one point, it came under the management of the Bessarabian governmental Zemstva. In March 1880, Zemstva acquired a plot of land at the intersection of Gubernială and...
Urban mansion of the Cheșco family
Let’s first talk about the biography of Queen Natalia Cheșco-Obrenovic. Natalia was born on May 15, 1859, in Florence, the daughter of Petre Cheșco, a descendant of a branch of the Wassilko family, a Basarabian colonel in the Russian army, and Pulheria Sturdza, a member of the Sturdza family of...
Red Mill
The Red Mill was one of the earliest steam mills constructed in Chisinau. Originally built with wood in the 1850s and 1860s, it had a single floor. In 1884, it underwent reconstruction using stone, now featuring three levels. After changing ownership multiple times, in 1890, the mill came under the...
Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts
The Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts is a public institution of higher education in Chisinau. It traces its roots to the Chisinau State Conservatory founded in 1940, and the music education institutions that have been active in Chisinau since 1919, with the establishment of the “Unirea” Conservatory initiated...
Moldova State University
The University was founded on October 1, 1946. Initially, it had 320 students enrolled in 5 faculties: Physics and Mathematics, Geology and Pedology, History and Philology, Biology, Chemistry. There were 35 teachers working in the 12 departments. Among the founders of the university were Macarie Radu and Mihail Pavlov. In...
National Library
The National Library of the Republic of Moldova, located in Chisinau, serves as the primary state library entrusted with the preservation, valorization, and safeguarding of the written cultural heritage. Operating in accordance with UNESCO’s guiding principles for this type of library, it is also a part of the European Digital...
The Circus of Chisinau
The Circus of Chisinau was constructed in 1981 by architects S. Shoihet and A. Kiricenko. For an extended period, the Chisinau Circus held the fourth position globally and the first in the USSR in terms of convenience and capacity, boasting 1900 seats for spectators and 100 for the members of...
Shapiro’s House
Shapiro’s Report House is a monument of national architectural significance, listed in the Register of Monuments of History and Culture (No. 114) of Chisinau, and in the Register of Monuments of the Republic of Moldova protected by the state (No. 68). It is situated in the Historic Center, at 60...
The Chisinau „Aleksandr Pushkin” House-Museum
This museum is also an important national monument, listed in the Register of Historical and Cultural Monuments of Chisinau. The building is historically significant because it was the residence of the young Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin, who, at the age of 21, lived here for several months after being exiled...
House of Architect Gh.Cupcea
The single-storey building at A. Mateevich, 62, more modest compared to his other works, was constructed at the intersection of the 19th and 20th centuries (when the street was named “Sadovaya”). Remarkably, to this day, due to favorable circumstances, it has not only avoided collapse but has not even deteriorated....
Church of Saints Constantine and Helen (1777)
In the past, it was the church of the cemetery of the village of Visterniceni, later annexed to the city and became the Riscani district of the capital. The church bears its present name since 1834, after the request of the nobleman Iorgu Râșcanu to change the name of the...
The Armenian Apostolical Church, The Holy Mother of God (1803–1804)
After the annexation of Bessarabia to the Russian Empire in 1812, the Armenian Archbishop (1809-1828) of Moldo-Vlachia, Grigor Zakarian, had to move to Chișinău, his title being limited to that of Archbishop of the Armenians of Bessarabia, although the Armenians across the Prut continued to subordinate themselves to him. The...
Monastery ,,Saint Great Martyr Teodor Tiron” (Ciuflea) (1854-1858)
It is the only convent of nuns in the territory of Chișinău. Its cathedral is a white stone temple with nine gilded domes and was built at the request of brothers Teodor (1796-1854) and Anastasie (1801-1870) Ciufli, based on the design of architect Luca Zaușchevici. It is popularly known as...
Church of St. Great Martyr Panteleimon (1891)
The church was founded by two brothers of Greek origin, Ivan and Victor Sinadino, honorary citizens of Chișinău. They were the sons of Pantelimon Sinadino, a former mayor of the city who served two terms, from 1837-1839 and 1840-1842. Construction of the church, designed in the neo-Byzantine style by architect...
Saint Theodora of Sihla Church (1895)
The chapel of the Bessarabian Zemstva’s high school for girls was built in 1895, with Teodor Krupensky and his daughter Euphrosinia, who was married to Prince Viazemski of Russia, as its founders. The architect of the Byzantine-style project was Alexander Bernardazzi. The consecration of the chapel did not take place...
The Roman-Catholic Cathedral of Divine Providence (1840)
The Roman Catholic community in Chisinau, composed almost exclusively of Polish people, was formed in the late 1830s. Ten years later, with their own financial contributions, the community builts a holy place, in 1840. The church project was approved in St Petersburg. The architect and sculptor Joseph I. Charlemand played...
Saint George the Great Church (1819)
From historical sources we learn that the construction of the Church “Saint George” began in 1814, in the historic center of Chisinau, with the blessing of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. The works started under the guidance of the priest Gheorghe, helped by his Bulgarian compatriots. One of the architects of the...
Saint Hierarch Nicholas Church (1901)
The holy place was given the name “Saint Hierarch Nicholas” in memory of the first founder – the felcher Nicholas Ivanov. The construction of the church began in 1901, according to the project of the city architect Vladimir Tiganko. After the death of the main founder, Catherine’s wife sells the...
Ruins of the Church Museum/Old Cathedral
The Church Museum was legally founded on April 4, 1904, with the establishment of the Church Historical-Archaeological Society in Chisinau, initiated by the distinguished Basarabian scholar Ioan Halippa. According to the by-laws, the Society’s objective was the comprehensive study of the local Church’s history, starting from the dawn of Christianity...
Church All Saints Sunday (1819- 1930)
It is believed that this very church in the town has been built the longest – just over 100 years! It is also the church that is most often visited by parishioners – it is located at the entrance to the Central (also called Armenian) Cemetery. The present appearance of...
Holy Trinity Church (1852-1862, or 1869)
The “Holy Trinity” Church was founded and consecrated by Archbishop Antonie Shocotov, on the territory of the former cemetery of the village of Muncesti (nowadays Botanica sector). It is a church built according to one of the model projects, which were widespread in Bessarabia at that time and used in...
Chabad Lubavitch Central Synagogue (Synagogue of the glassmakers)
This Synagogue was built in 1896-1898 by the architect Tsalel Gershevich Ginger. For a long time there was an unspoken rule in Chisinau: for every 500 Jews in the city there must be one synagogue. In 1964 the city authorities ordered the closure of all synagogues except the Glaziers’ Synagogue,...
Jewish Hospital
Architectural monument of national significance, included in the Register of monuments of history and culture of the municipality of Chisinau, compiled by the Academy of Sciences. The Jewish Hospital was founded before 1812 and received official status in 1843. Since the 70s of the 19th century, projects for the buildings...
Central Synagogue of Chisinau
CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE OF CHISINAU its founded in 1886. “Sennaya” synagogue, located in the historical part of Chisinau, is one of the oldest functioning synagogues in the capital and the Republic of Moldova as a whole. Its role in the formation of the Jewish community in the region is exceptional. In...
