Day 10 (July 15, 2019): Chisinau.
Transnistria was exciting, but it was also a bit worrisome, given all the stark warnings we had heard about going there. Although it all worked out, the stress (Pam) and excitement (Dave) of it left us feeling exhausted this morning. It was a late start to the day, as a result, and we before we could really launch into Chisinau, we had to take care of one administrative item: to find the Moldovan immigration office and to get an entry stamp for our passports. (When you leave Transnistria, you aren't given such a stamp upon entering Moldova, and that can cause great difficulty when you try to fly out of Moldova.)
We had heard stories of this process taking half a day, but we were in and out in half an hour. We then started to explore this city of 670,000, which is not exactly the most tourist-friendly. But near in mind that only 20,000 people visit the entire country of Moldova each year!
I apologize in advance, if this blog entry appears to be a collection of building and monument photos. However, that is simply what comprises a typical city exploration - searching out the key buildings and monuments of a place and using various transportation options to find them.
We hope the photos provide a general sense of Chisinau's attractions and the influences that have shaped them.
APPENDIX - To Better Understand Chisinau:
On 28 June 1940, as a direct result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Bessarabia (the former name of this territory) was annexed by the Soviet Union from Romania, and Chișinău became the capital of the newly created Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Following the Soviet occupation, mass deportations, linked with atrocities, were executed by the Moldovan Secret Service (NKVD) between June 1940 and June 1941. In Chișinău, over 400 people were executed in July 1940, and as part of the policy of political repression of the potential opposition to the Communist power, tens of thousand members of native families were deported from Bessarabia to other regions of the USSR.
On 10 November 1940, a devastating earthquake occurred. The quake, which measured 7.4, led to substantial destruction: 78 deaths and 2,795 affected buildings (of which 172 destroyed).
In June 1941, in order to recover Bessarabia, Romania entered World War II under the command of the German Wehrmacht, declaring war on the Soviet Union. In the chaos of the Second World War, Chișinău was severely affected. In June–July 1941 the city came under bombardment by Nazi air raids.
Following the German and Romanian reoccupation, the city suffered from the Nazi extermination policy of its Jewish inhabitants, who were transported on trucks to the outskirts of the city and then shot in partially dug pits. The number of Jews murdered during the initial occupation of the city is estimated at approximately 10,000 people.
As the war drew to a conclusion, the city was once again the scene of heavy fighting as German and Romanian troops retreated. Chișinău was captured by the Red Army on 24 August 1944. After the war, Bessarabia was fully reintegrated into the Soviet Union
Two other waves of deportations of Moldova's native population were carried out by the Soviets, the first one immediately after the Soviet reoccupation of Bessarabia until the end of the 1940s, and the second one in the mid-1950s.
In the years 1947 to 1949 the architect Alexey Shchusev developed a plan with the aid of a team of architects for the gradual reconstruction of the city.
We had heard stories of this process taking half a day, but we were in and out in half an hour. We then started to explore this city of 670,000, which is not exactly the most tourist-friendly. But near in mind that only 20,000 people visit the entire country of Moldova each year!
I apologize in advance, if this blog entry appears to be a collection of building and monument photos. However, that is simply what comprises a typical city exploration - searching out the key buildings and monuments of a place and using various transportation options to find them.
We hope the photos provide a general sense of Chisinau's attractions and the influences that have shaped them.
APPENDIX - To Better Understand Chisinau:
On 28 June 1940, as a direct result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Bessarabia (the former name of this territory) was annexed by the Soviet Union from Romania, and Chișinău became the capital of the newly created Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Following the Soviet occupation, mass deportations, linked with atrocities, were executed by the Moldovan Secret Service (NKVD) between June 1940 and June 1941. In Chișinău, over 400 people were executed in July 1940, and as part of the policy of political repression of the potential opposition to the Communist power, tens of thousand members of native families were deported from Bessarabia to other regions of the USSR.
On 10 November 1940, a devastating earthquake occurred. The quake, which measured 7.4, led to substantial destruction: 78 deaths and 2,795 affected buildings (of which 172 destroyed).
In June 1941, in order to recover Bessarabia, Romania entered World War II under the command of the German Wehrmacht, declaring war on the Soviet Union. In the chaos of the Second World War, Chișinău was severely affected. In June–July 1941 the city came under bombardment by Nazi air raids.
Following the German and Romanian reoccupation, the city suffered from the Nazi extermination policy of its Jewish inhabitants, who were transported on trucks to the outskirts of the city and then shot in partially dug pits. The number of Jews murdered during the initial occupation of the city is estimated at approximately 10,000 people.
As the war drew to a conclusion, the city was once again the scene of heavy fighting as German and Romanian troops retreated. Chișinău was captured by the Red Army on 24 August 1944. After the war, Bessarabia was fully reintegrated into the Soviet Union
Two other waves of deportations of Moldova's native population were carried out by the Soviets, the first one immediately after the Soviet reoccupation of Bessarabia until the end of the 1940s, and the second one in the mid-1950s.
In the years 1947 to 1949 the architect Alexey Shchusev developed a plan with the aid of a team of architects for the gradual reconstruction of the city.
The National Drama Theatre.
This is Organ Hall, a prominent, classical-style concert hall with an elegant, chandelier-lit interior for performances.
City Hall.
National Library of Moldova.
The National Museum of History of Moldova.
The museum has this interesting statue out front -- it shows babies a the teets of a nasty dog. We can't know for sure, but we interpreted it as Moldova at the teets of the USSR for all those decades of communism.
A fine room in the Museum.
Unlike Belarus and Transistria, which still seem to be in a mode of celebrating the glory of Lenin and Russia, Moldova is clearly in a very different frame of mind and recognizes those decades for the dark times they were. The Museum has a section devoted to the atrocities of Stalin. I'm showing a few random photos from the exhibit to show you the faces of Stalin's murderous regime. The man above was sent to a psychiatric hospital for 11 years in 1969 for destroying a monument to Lenin in the village of Floresti. The communists sent thousands of Moldovans to psychiatric institutions where they were often starved.
To two men above were sent to the "gulag" for hard labour for seven years for "trying to create an anti-Soviet organization".
The Stephen the Great Public Gardens, with a statue of Stephen the Great at the entry.
Monument to Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, in the Stephen the Great Public Gardens.
The Government House in Chisinau is located on Great National Assembly Square ("Victory Square" under the USSR) and Stefan cel Mare Avenue ("Lenin Avenue" under the USSR). It used to be the headquarters of the Council of Ministers of the Moldovan SSR. In 2010, the Monument to the Victims of the Soviet Occupation was opened right in front of the building. Unlike Belarus and Transnistria,
The Metropolitan Cathedral "Nativity of the Lord" in Cathedral Park.
The Bell Tower of the Metropolitan Cathedral.
The Triumphal Arch. from 1846.
Russian meat pie for lunch, in a sidewalk cafe.
"Monument to the Heroes of the Leninist Kosmomal"
While a lot is known about the Warsaw Ghetto (which we visited last summer) and its infamous uprising, we knew nothing of the Chisinau Ghetto. So we searched out the Monument to Victims of the Jewish Ghetto. We were shocked to learn that even here in Chisinau, the Nazi machine had created a ghetto and displaced over 11,000 Jews to it in 1941. They were eventually forced to walk to camps in Transistria, died of disease or starvation.
This is the Statue of Lovers on Chisinau's pedestrian street. He is holding flowers and looking frustrated because she's late. She is running to meet him with her high heels in hand and a smile of anticipation on her face.
Every city has something unique, and this is certainly a unique idea in Chisinau: One side of Cathedral Park is lined with public bulletin boards to share news and announcements.
The Transfiguration Church is a Moldovan Orthodox church located in Chișinău.
That's the Presidential Palace, built between 1984-87. It was made to be the new building of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR. After Moldova gained its independence, the building became the residence of the President of Moldova. The building was devastated during protests on April 7, 2009 against the President and had to be closed It was recently renovated with the help of the Turkish government and reopened in 2018.
National Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
The Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.
The finely sculpted hedging at the Parliament.
We ate dinner at an authentic Moldovan restaurant, Vatra Neamului. An excellent trio of local musicians played trumpet, keyboard and accordion as we ate - they were excellent.
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