Architecture of Chisinau

Kishinev is a compact city, its centre – the place of our future

walk – is well connected with all the administrative sectors. If you
arrive in Kishinev by air, through the airport, the city will broadly
open you its gates, that located in Dachia Boulevard, the Museum
of Village is situated next to it, and then through the viaduct you
will get to the centre.

If you find yourself in the railway station, from the railway land
side, where there is a sight to the Palace of Railway Workers, you
will reach the centre along Gagarin Boulevard passing by the
monument to Kotovsky and along Negrutsy Boulevard to Piata
Liberetii (Square of Independence) that is limited by the buildings
of the «National» and «Chisinau» hotels, as well as the main
building of Academy of Sciences. There is a sculptural
composition in the centre of the square devoted to the warriors of
the Soviet Army, who liberated Moldova from fascists in 1944.

On 3 October 1999, in the City Day, when Kishinev celebrated its

563 th anniversary, the grand opening ceremony of the
reconstructed part of Ciuflea Street that now is a wide highway,
took place.

The central avenue of our capital begins from this place. This is
Stephen the Great Boulevard, which length is 3.8 kilometres.
Over the centuries, it frequently changed its name and face. In
1944 the central part of the boulevard was almost completely
destroyed, only 2-3 buildings remained unharmed. Looking at the
buildings, located in both sides of the boulevard, one can easily
tell the stages of its reconstruction.

The boulevard is opened by two contemporaneous buildings, the

first floors of those are occupied with shops, banks, large firms.
Vis-a-vis an exhibition hall the Union of Artists is located,
decorated with metallic sculptures of muses.

Farther, at the corner of Izmailskaya Street, in the even side, the

building of the central department store is situated – the largest
trade enterprise of Moldova that began to function in the middle
of 80s. Opposite the department store there is the magnificent
building of Petrolbank built in 1997. The many-storeyed building
of «Moldtelecom» is located behind the department store in the
even side of the street. It was created by means of slip forms.
Owing to these high-rise buildings, Kishinev, in spite of being
situated in the seismically active zone, have gained the
appearance of quite a modern city.

The former Armenian yards’ territory is the next to come, limited

by the up-to-date Stephan the Great Boulevard, Armyanskaya
and Benderskaya streets. The Armenian appeared in Kishinev in
the first quarter of the XV century. In the beginning of the XIX
century there were 113 Armenian families in Kishinev and in 1814
the City Council determined the plot in the city centre (more than
21 thousand metres) for the building religious and other
constructions. Benderskaya arch formerly was here, and at the
corner with Armyanskaya Street - a beautiful chemist’s shop.

There is a territory of the central market on the opposite side of

the boulevard being parallel to it behind the houses.

The sight of the centre is the Organ Hall located on the odd side
of the street. On the right of the Organ Hall, there is the building
of the National Drama Theatre. There is an open exhibition
between them. On the left, there is not a bit less beautiful
building of City Hall, and in front of it there is the central post
office. Now we can look round to see the part of the avenue
where we have already walked.

The main square of Kishinev is located behind Pushkin Street - it

is Piata Marii Adunari Nationale (Square of the Great National
Meeting). It has utterly another appearance before the
reconstruction. It is restricted by a park with one side where there
is Cathedral ensemble. The most ancient of its edifices is Portile
Sfinta Arch (Saint Gates). There is a flower market along the park.

The House of Government is situated in front of the Arch. It was

built in the place where Bessarabian Eparchy was formerly
located. Near the House of Government there are buildings of the
National Palace and the National Library.

Till recently, there was a monument to V.I. Lenin, where,

according to different evidences, different monuments changed
each other: to Alexander I, Ferdinand I, and Stephen the Great.
Now there is no monument here.

The park named after Stephen the Great abuts upon the central
square. By the main entrance to the park there is the monument
to Stephen the Great standing in the place of the destroyed
monument to the Russian emperor Alexander II.

The «Patria» cinema built in the place of the very beautiful

building of Noble Assembly that has not been preserved. There
was an arch at the entrance in that building. Next to it one can
find the House of Parliament of Moldova. Here the unique
monument to K. Marks and F. Engels was formerly situated. There
is the newly built the National Opera-House opposite it, followed
by the Palace of President and the building of the Agroindustrial
Association. The Palace of President is built in the place of the
German Protestant Church. Farther from the same side of the
street there is Preobrajenskii Cathedral – the former military
church. Some time there was a planetarium here. The Kishinev
churches, we could count 20 of them, the pieces of the antiquity,
the parts of our ancestors’ soul are the architectural pearls of our
country.

The building of the former Museum of Art, erected by the Vienna

masters in the rare architectural style of the elegant Vienna
baroque, is also fairly considered to be a Kishinev decoration. In
all four directions from the crossroads with Calea Orheiului along
the main street there are buildings of health authorities. Among
them the republican Isolation Hospital named after Ion Ciorba,
that is situated behind the open-work fence in the one-storey
building made of the pure brickwork; the most old block of the
Medical University, that is the descendant of the second
Leningrad Medical Institute. It was completely taken here
together with its library from Pyatigorsk, where it was in the
evacuation (during World War II), when it was particularly
necessary to settle the vital problems of public health in Moldova.
Architectural monument of national importance, entered in the
register of historical and cultural monuments of Chisinau at
Academy of Sciences initiative.

Architecture

The achievements of the Kishinev inhabitants in the area of

architecture are considerable. The capital of Moldova is indebted
for its status of the “historical city”, received in 1986, to its
centre. It was formerly the whole Kishinev, and now just a little
part of it, encircled with the massive row of the new buildings of
60-80th. That time the people used to joke: "Kishinev is a village in
the centre and the city in the suburbs". That was time when the
industrial building in Kishinev was accelerating. The high
buildings that had been unthinkable in seismic area aroused
public admiration. The accurate strait lines of the new houses
were found modern and beautiful. Newspapers, presenting the
capital of Moldova, were only publishing the photographs of the
new buildings and boulevards and the old ones were ashamed
and scolded for architectural extravagances. Fortunately, the
industrial building did not affect the beauty of the old city. The
people got tired with the strait lines and rediscovered the dignity
of the scales, proportionate to man and even fascination of the
architectural extravagances. The middle-80-ies Kishinev dwellers
had very painful attitude to all the changes in the centre of the
city and even opposed them.

On the hills of old Kishinev there are Mazarache (1752), St.

Constantin and Elena (1777), Annunciation (1807) churches. They
have typical for Moldovan middle-age architecture tripetalous
plan and the so-called “Moldovan arch” – two circles of vaults,
supporting the dram with the dome.

Those years Kishinev was hardly looking like a town. It was

consisting of
separated badly organized districts, crooked streets and lanes
without definite centre and public buildings. In 1817 the centre of
the town was clarified, new districts and quarters were planned.
The building were conducted on the slope to the west of the old
town. The new district got the name of the “upper town”. In the
city centre, the building of large houses was launched:
Metropolitan See (1814, in the place of the House of
Government), Theological Seminary, private houses of boyars
Varfolomey, Katarjy, Donici, some high-ranking officials and
merchants. There were some steps on the city improvement:
street lamps appeared, the swamps of the lower part of the city
were drained and the first city park was laid out (currently, the
park of Stephen the Great).

The general plan of Kishinev, made on the basis of its

topographical survey and approved in 1834, planned its further
development. The centre of the city, its main square, central park
(currently, the Cathedral park) were determined. The rectangular
and accurate net of wide streets corresponded to the town-
planning of the southern cities of Russia. In the old town, the
attempts to plan the streets and blocks were made. The
considerable architectural ensemble was created in the city
centre. On the project of architect A. Melnikov, in the style of late
Russian classicism, the largest buildings of that time, Cathedral
and Bell Tower (1831-1835) were erected. Then Triumph Arch
(1840, I. Zaushkevich) was built. These buildings are remarkable
for its calm grandeur and austerity of composition.

In the second half of the XIX century the growth of Kishinev was
going on. 93 000 people dwelled Kishinev in 1961. The official
and educational buildings were being built. The order forms were
dominating but the elements of Byzantine, Roman and Gothic
architecture were also applied as

well as the elements of Moldovan architecture. The houses were

mainly single-storied and in the centre there were blocks of flats
with the shops on the ground floor. The characteristic feature of
apartment houses was the glass-covered verandah from the yard
side and the front entrance with columns and pilasters. The
houses were decorated with pediments, various ornaments of
windows. The high quality of the building and the beginning of the
true improvement of the city, Kishinev is indebted to the
outstanding architect – Alexander Bernardazzi; he was the chief
city architect more than 30 years. He is the author of many end-
of-XIX-century considerable buildings, enriched the city
architecture. However, the city improvement was conducted
slowly. Streets’ paving was only begun in 1862.

In 1892 the city water pipe was set up; before this, the city had
been supplied with water from the wells and it was provided in
barrels by carriers.

At the beginning of the XX century, the buildings of the City

Duma - currently, City Hall (the Mayor’s office), Circuit Court
(Railway Administration), City Bank (the Organ Hall), Museum of
Local Lore. In 1910 Kishinev numbered 127 000 inhabitants,
about 10 000 houses, 142 streets and lanes, 12 squares, 5
gardens and parks. This was the Golden Age in Kishinev
formation. From 1918 till 1940 when Bessarabia became the
integral part of Romania, Kishinev development stopped, the
population decreased. Just some detached houses of officials and
businessman appeared in the upper part of Kishinev.

During World War II Kishinev lost 78 % of its housing.The general

plan of the city reconstruction and building was elaborated in
1947-1948 under the direction of A. Schusev. It envisaged
reconstruction of old and building of new houses, administrative
and public buildings, creation of industrial zones, new highways,
squares and parks. The city was foreseen to be encircled with
green plants. The elaboration of the general plan was continued
by Moldovan architects headed by R. Kurts together with Moscow
and Leningrad architects. The first new building was th railway
house (1948, L. Chuiprin).

The blocks of flats and official buildings were built; among them
the Academy of Sciences of MSSR and the Ministry of
Communication (the central post office, architect B. Mednek).
In different parts of the city, the buildings on individual projects
were built: Library after Krupskaya (architect A. Abrutsumyan,
now National Library) and Railway Hospital (architect D. Palatnik).

The decisive incentive to the city development and, especially, its

center was the direction of the Minister Council of the USSR
“About the measures on further development of Kishinev” (1971)
when our city was given about 1 billion roubles from the USSR
funds. The house planning on a mass scale was developed as well
as educational institutions and hospitals.

As a result of the growing industrialization of building in the

middle 70-ies, it became possible to erect the building with 9, 12
and 16 stories in our seismically dangerous zone. These buildings
(architect G. Solominov was awarded with the state premium of
MSSR) stood the strongest earthquakes of 1977 and 1986.

On the basis of industrial methods of building and the grown

capabilities of applying high-quality trimming materials the large
public and administrative buildings were erected: the House of
Government, and the Palace of Octombrie (now, the National
Palace), architect S. Fridlin; Central Committee of the Communist
Party (the House of Parliament); the hotels of “Inturist”
(“National”), architects A. Gorbuntsov and V. Shalaginov and
“Cosmos”, architects S. Shoikhet and A. Kirichenko; the National
Opera-House, architects N. Kurennoi and A. Gorshkov; the circus,
architects S. Shoikhet and A. Kirichenko; the Airport, architect A.
Eksner. Modern avenues were created during last years of the
USSR: Mir (now Dachia), Moskovsky, Kutuzovsky (Mircha cel
Bytryn). The transport overpass connected the centre of the city
with the district of Botanica and the airport through the Valley of
Roses.

The competition for the detailed planning of the city centre was
announced in the middle 80-ies, but the political events in the
late 80-ies in Moldova did not allow its accomplishing. Last years
the building of fashionable houses of the financial and business
elite of the city has chiefly been conducted. The splendid
buildings of Moldincombank and Petrol Bank appeared. The
reconstruction of Cathedral has been completed.
The pieces of our antiquity – Kishinev churches – are the parts of
our ancestry’s soles, the architectural pears of our capital. These
edifices are remarkable for their simplicity, construction maturity
and reflect the essence of historic and ethnographic originality of
Moldova.

The stone architecture of Moldova is notable for its extraordinary

wealth and diversity of plan, construction and style architectural
treatments.

Having survived the centuries, it keeps its brilliant originality.

The initiative of building the cathedral belongs to Metropolitan
Gabriel Bănulescu Bodoni (1812-1821), its location being
indicated in the first urban plan of Chisinau in 1817. The
construction was done during his successor in the years 1832-
1836 by Archbishop Dumitru Sulima (1821-1844). It has three
altars, Central - the Birth of Jesus; laterals: Southern - St.
Alexander Nevski, Northern - St. Nicholas Mirlikysky. The architect
is A. I. Melnikov, master of the Russian, empire style.
The whole cathedral consists of a church, a bell with four levels
and the Holy Gates. The works highlights the concern for creating
an urban centre; its architectural and spatial composition had to
play an important role - the cathedral city. In the downtown plan
in 1817 was already showing the location of the cathedral, with a
cruciform plan.

The Cathedral.
The architecture is done in old neoclassical style also called
empire, for columns were used the ancient Greek forms. The
cathedral was built in eclectic style, a combination of Byzantine
plan “Greek Cross” inscribed with Renaissance principles of
central type. In plan represents a quadrate with the side of 27 m,
by stacking to the cubic body four porticoes of six Doric columns,
being obtained a cruciform plan, with facades handled identically.
The dome, surmounted by a cylindrical drum is supported by four
square pillars in the section, which take the weight by four double
arches and four pendants. The cover of the parabolic dome with
radial ribs was of iron sheet. Through the drum of 13 meters
wide, with 12 windows, the interior is flooded with light. Interior
surfaces of walls and vaults were painted with biblical and
evangelical subjects. Plastered parties suggested the impression
of marble tiles.

The Cathedral suffered during the Second World War; the tower
and dome, the interiors were rebuilt with deviations from the
original forms.

The Belfry.
It was built in the same time with the Cathedral, located at a
distance of 40 m away from it, symmetrical to the cathedral and
to the geometric centre of the cathedral ward. It has four levels,
three prismatic with the side in successive withdrawal, and the
fourth in a form of a circular pavilion, for the bell chamber,
covered with a dome. At the first level is a chapel, into which the
entrance took place through a portico with two columns, located
in south side. Identical porticos graced each facade of the bell
tower, realizing a repetition on a reduced scale of the
composition of the Cathedral. It was demolished in 1960 the
twentieth century, and rebuilt in 1998 after vintage images.

National Theatre “Mihai Eminescu”

The National Theatre “Mihai Eminescu” it’s an architectural and

historical monument of national importance, introduced in the
Registry of cultural and historical monuments of Chişinău, at
Academy of Science initiative.
The theatre was founded in 1930 in Tiraspol town. The first
attempt to build the edifice took place in early twentieth century
in neoclassical style, but in conjunction with the economic
depression, its construction was postponed. Between 1949 – 1953
was accomplished the project, led by

architect Galadjeva; the interiors and facades – by architects from

RSSM V.F. Smirnov and V. P. Alexandrov, preserving the interwar
forms and stylistic. The construction ended in spring, 1954.
The theatre is built in three levels on a semi-basement, occupies
the corner of a slum, which was sometime reserved for the police
market and it is bounded laterally by Mihai Eminescu Street. The
last level is an attic. It was placed in retiring from the boulevard
line, with the main entrance raised on a podium from steps,
which gives to the edifice an increased monumentality. The plan
of the theatre is rectangular, with the tight facade perpendicular
to bd. Stefan cel Mare. In the spatial composition of the theatre
doming the cylindrical volume of the theatre hall, surrounded on
three sides by balconies, the spaces of the lobbies and corridors,
crowned with a spherical cupola. The main facade is solved
monumentally with a central portico situated in the symmetry
axis, composed by four Corinthian columns, flanked by two
squared pillars in section, solved in the same key, on which lay an
triangular pediment. The sculptured relief of the eardrum,
executed by sculptor L. Dubinovsky, has disappeared during the
last reconstruction. The lateral facades have a symmetrical
composition, with central porticos from six columns in the centre
of the facades, crowned with triangular pediments, through which
are realized the lateral entries into the building. The theatre hall,
placed in the centre of the building has a circular configuration,
covered by a cupola, which surface was painted with an image of
“hora” dancers, by painter L. P. Grigoraşenco. The lodges and
balconies repeat the configuration of the hall, being perimetral
placed to which you can get by a monumental scale with three
ramps and scales situated at the corners of the square
circumscribed to the hall. Two secondary, lateral entries placed in
South and North drive direct from the street and the afferent
square into the lobby of the theatre. Other two

entries placed symmetrically of those written above drive in the

stage direction, administration, and rooms for actors.

Alexander Bernardazzi

(1831 - 1907)

In 1856 he became the first chief asrchitect of Kishinev, when he

was 25 years old. On his projects, more than 30 buildings and
constructions were erected; he used approaches of Italian,
Byzantine and Russian architecture in his projects. The Alexander
Bernardazzi's buildings adorn Kishinev being the architectural
pearls of the last century; they are protected by the state and
almost all of them have been restored. Everybody knows Dadiani
Gimnasia - now the Museum of Fine Arts, Greece Church, Chapel
of Women Gymnasia, New Armenian Church, majestic water
tower, after reconstruction City Museum is now there, the
building of Children's Hospital and the former building of Circuit
Court, now Railway Administration and many other buildings,
having been built by Bernardazzi in Moldova: St. Panteleimon
Church, St. Teodora from Sihla Church. Bernardazzi expended
much energy on the improvement of Pushkin Park (now the park
after Stephen the Great).
The buildings, made on the Bernardazzi's projects are remarkable
for their elegancy, rich decor and some eclecticness, peculiar to
the architectural manner of that time. They embellish the city
being the islands of beauty. They marvellously supplement the
architectural appearance of our city.

St. Panteleimon Church

St. Panteleimon Church is the most interesting monument of

architecture of the end of the XIX century (1891). The architect is
A.O. Bernardazzi. The plan of the church is cross-shaped with
equal ends. The pentahedral apse abuts upon the eastern branch
of the building; a bell tower - to the western one. St. Panteleimon
church is one of the best crusiform churches, built in Moldova.
Another constructive peculiarity of this monument of architecture
is a pair of mutually perpendicular overlapping criss-cross arches.
The building looks majestic and solemn. The interior of the church
is strict. The building is made in the new Byzantinne style.

The Museum of Fine Arts

The early Italian Renaissance and Gothic were reflected in the

architecture of the Female Gimnasia of Dadiani (1900, the
architect is A. Bernardazzi). The Museum of History of the
Moldavian Communist Party was located here. Now it is the
Museum of Fine Arts (31 August 1989 Street). This building is
remarkable for simultaneously lyrical and monumental character.
Its volumetric plan is based on symmetry. The building has the T-
shaped plan. The walls are made of the traditional Moldovan
building material - "kotelets" and red brick of two shades.
Windows and doors are ornamented with various Gothic
decorative elements that perfectly harmonize. The interior, where
the skylight is used, looks very interesting.

Universitatea Tehnica a Moldovei

Catedra Limbi straine

Referat
Tema: Architecture of Chisinau

A elaborate st.gr. CIC 103

Diaconu Ion

Chisinau 2011