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 hold soldiers or sentries and also served as a dungeon for other prisoners, but over time they became increasingly inefficient. A decision was taken to have the problem remedied. Thus, already in 1834, the draft of the dungeon in Chisinau was ready, being designed by Giorgio Toriсelli from Switzerland. This architect was better known in Odessa, where his creations are still architectural jewels of the city. Chisinau proved less fortunate, however, as another building designed by Toricelli, the Lutheran Church, was destroyed in the 1960s.
Toricelli proposed a very unusual project, which was approved. Construction began in the 1840s and was completed in the 1850s.

The castle was built in the shape of a square, the sides of which faced the sides of the world. Even this positioning was unusual, as the street network designed at the time was oriented differently. As a result, the castle looked even more imposing, with one of the large round towers visible on each of the streets in the district in which it stood. The height of the towers was more than 20 metres, the most important one being the one on Sadovaia Street (today’s Bernardazzi). The large round towers were complemented by smaller rectangular towers. Because of its unusual appearance, the prison was often called the “Bastille of Chisinau”. The main tower of the castle was visibly different from the others, one of its battlements was made in the shape of a cross, and not by chance – there was the prison church.
Many famous prisoners were imprisoned in the Chisinau prison. One of the most famous was G. Kotovschi, who managed to escape from here. The history of the castle continued even when the country was part of Romania in the interwar period.

The old Prison Castle did not serve the new Soviet authorities well for long. The catastrophic earthquake of November 1940 severely damaged the building. The ensuing war prevented its restoration, which led to further ruin.

After the war, little remains of the castle. But since the need for a prison was felt, a new prison was built on the site of the castle, which we still have today. New buildings were constructed, almost the entire district was surrounded by a new high wall with turrets. The complex does not stand out for its refinement and style (characteristics of the old Castle) and is certainly not an architectural jewel for this part of Chisinau.

Entering these buildings and exploring them is an extremely difficult task. But photos taken inside the prison are even more difficult to obtain. The main tower of the castle has been preserved, not very well though, as it has lost half of its height. Even the adjacent square lower towers have survived to the present day, though not entirely.

Currently, the 13th Prison is located here.