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 in Bessarabia. The Society focused its activities on researching, preserving, and studying monuments related to the establishment of churches, the formation of parishes, the ecclesiastical hierarchy, religious-moral life of the clergy and laity, educational aspects, and efforts against the spread of heresies and sects. The Society collected written documents concerning the ecclesiastical domain, ecclesiastical books, icons, and other ecclesiastical items. It also gathered, described, and processed archaeological-church, historical, and ethnological materials held by institutions and private individuals.

To achieve its goals, the Society had the authority to maintain church antiquities, operate a museum, library, archive, and publish a magazine. Between 1909 and 1934, the Society published a scientific magazine, featuring contributions from Romanian hierarchs, priests, theologians, and researchers from Bessarabia and later from all over Romania, totaling twenty-four volumes.

The Society pursued another goal outlined in its regulations, namely, to enrich the collection of the church museum.

In 1920, the museum received a visit from Romanian King Ferdinand I and Queen Maria, accompanied by Royal Princess Elisabeth. Other notable visitors included Metropolitan Miron Cristea (future patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church), Octavian Goga (Minister of Religious Affairs), and Visarion Puiu (Bishop of Argeș). In 1919, O. Tafrali, a professor at the University of Iasi, visited the museum. Nicolae Iorga, who took interest in the museum’s treasures, noted his impressions in the visitors’ golden book in 1919: “I have examined the beautiful collection, taking it upon myself to enrich it; I have admired what love united with faith and hard work can do.”

Until 1940, the Museum was situated in the building of the Diocesan House on Emperor Alexander Boulevard, known as the “Serafimovsky Dom” (Serafim’s House) in honor of Archbishop Serafim Ciceagov, the building’s founder. In 1941, the Soviet army demolished the building, and after the war, it was completely razed.

In 1940, the museum was evacuated to Romania. With the re-establishment of church life in Bessarabia in 1941, efforts were made to revive the Museum, initiated by parish priest Father Paul Mihail. However, the Soviet return halted the Museum’s progress, and the heritage disappeared without a trace.

After 1944, the museum was devastated, and the museum’s possessions were evacuated to Plopșor, Dolj County, Romania. When the Soviet army occupied Romania, the crates containing the museum’s possessions disappeared, and the fate of the exhibits remains unknown.

The curator of the Museum, Father Paul Mihail, worked tirelessly for the rehabilitation and conservation of church antiquities. However, he suffered greatly after the museum’s destruction and the disappearance of the artifacts.

The building of the Museum, situated near the church of St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel, was demolished in the 1960s. The Old Sobor was also demolished by Soviet authorities and replaced by the “Moscow” cinema, later transformed into the “Eugen Ionesco” Theatre. The Diocesan House building was demolished in 1960 during urban architectural changes, with a monument dedicated to the heroes of the komsomol erected in its place.

On November 5, 2021, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the death of Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni and his canonization, archaeological excavations were initiated near the “Eugen Ionesco” Theatre to uncover the foundations of the Church Museum building and the residence of Metropolitan Bănulescu-Bodoni. Traces of a building and three underground stone structures, demolished in the 1960s, were discovered and partially excavated in this area. Plans are underway to initiate a project to preserve and transform the remnants of the disappeared buildings, including the Church of Archangels Michael and Gabriel (Old Cathedral) and the Church Museum, into a museum complex on the land adjacent to the Eugen Ionesco Theatre.

These actions aim to contribute to the restoration, preservation, and sustainable valorization of archaeological sites with significant historical and architectural value.

The provided text is based on an article signed by Father Maxim Melinti.