Chisinau - Kishinev - History 

A chronicler called Moldova a country on the way of all disasters. Our city is on the same way and historical storms have been raging over it for centuries. Kishinev was repeatedly trampled down by the Tatar-Mongolian hordes and burnt down by the Turkish. The territory of Moldova is located on the boundary of the Eastern and the Western Europe and has been populated from the ancient time. The first leavings of the post Paleolithic sites, discovered here by the archaeologists, refer to 35-8 thousand years BC, to 10-8 thousand years the tracks of the Chernyakhovskaya culture, treasures of the Roman coins to the IV century AD, the Slavonic settlements to the VIII-IX centuries. The ancient Romans and wandering tribes, that used to migrate over this territory, left vestiges of their stay. The raids of the Tatar-Mongolians Golden Horde were especially devastating. They went on up to the 90-ies of the XIV century, when invaders were compelled to retreat under pressure of European peoples also out of this territory, that historically was a part of the middle-aged Moldovan state.

One can hardly find a city, that celebrated its 500-year anniversary twice, but Kishinev is the one: under the Romanians and in 1966 in the time of the Soviet power. It happened, because Kishinev was firstly mentioned in historical documents in 1436 in the official document of voivodes (a voivode is the head of the army, district or province) of Moldova Ilie and Stephan Oanchya to the logofet - the head of gospodar’s office (gospodar - the title of the king of Moldova). In this document where the boundaries of village lots about the river of Reut are specified, that were given to him for the loyal service. The Kishinev was mentioned there too: «... and at the river of Bik, on that side, in the valley coming down to Chisheneului lui Acbas by the stream where there is a Tatar settlement near the forest...» And according to the Soviet historiography a built-up area in the place of the contemporaneous Kishinev was mentioned in 1466 in the charter of the Moldovan gospodar Stephen the Great to his uncle, boyar Vlaicul, for the ownership of the village Kishinev around the well of Albishioara. More than a hundred years the Vlaicul’s offspring possessed these places.

Under Ottoman yoke set up in Moldova in the middle of the XVI century, constant incursions of the Turks and Crimean Tatar, increase of duties, the town development had been happening slowly and the country was in decay. Firstly being a boyar and since 1641 a monastic patrimony, Kishinev was repeatedly destroyed. The first remaining scheme of Kishinev refers to the beginning of the XIX century. It testifies about the fact that the town in the middle of the XIX century constituted the assemblage of dirty pise houses with reed roofs without firmly determined districts and streets. In the photograph there is a sight at the town from the side of an embankment along future Renastere Avenue. The Bik was partitioned off with dams with mills and mechanisms for skin processing and leather manufacture. Over the dwelling part of the town swarms of flies and gnats were hovering. The Bik used to frequently overflow. The puddles and bogs were the consequence of winter flood and autumn rains. The first scheme dates from the beginning of the XIX century. The historical core of Kishinev was situated in the lower part of the city. The planned city development began in 1818. The first topographical survey was conducted in 1813 and 1823. Using the new survey, performed in 1829-1830 by Eitner and Gleinin, Major-general P. I. Fedotov designed a project of regulating of planning of the existing part of the city and development of free lands of the "upper city" - the first general plan of the city reconstruction.

In ancient time villages of Buiucani, Munchesti, Visterniceni, Hrusca, Vovinteni were gradually united with the town. During the Russian-Turkish wars the retreating Turkish twice set our town on fire, in 1739 and 1788. As a result of the number of Russian-Turkish wars the territory between the rivers of Dniester, Prut, and Dunai in 1812 became a part of the Russian Empire, and got the name of Bessarabia, and Kishinev, having got an official status of town in 1818 became a centre of the Bessarabian district and since 1873 the centre of the Bessarabian guberniya (province). If from 1812 till 1818 the Kishinev population had increased from 7 up to 18 thousand people, by the end of the century it had grown up to 110 thousand. However, the growth of population was happening not at the expense of the natural increase, but due to the emigration processes. Those years Kishinev was the centre point of the industrial manufacture. It had rather developed economic connections with the other areas of Russia.

The planned building of the town was begun in 1818. In 1834 the government adopted a general plan of the Kishinev development. From 1829 till 1834 wells, that provided the most part of the population with water, were improved in Kishinev. At the expense of the Town Council (Duma) the spring was arranged in the district of Mazarache Church. For a long time, the whole town was supplied with its water carried in barrels. In XIX century, by the hill, the Mazarache church is towering on, by the bank of the river of Bik, once there was a fountain, supplying the whole Kishinev with water. The ancient fountain is worth restoring (even more so, because it is a zone of rest with alleys and parks) and cleaning in order to the city-dwellers could enjoy the crystal water again.

Firstly this spring with the water, suitable for drinking, was mentioned in a gospodar document dated 17 July 1436. In other words, the fountain was simaltaneously mentioned with Kishinev itself. The ancient document reads, that Moldovan gospodars Ilie Voevod and his brother Stephen Voevod presented logofet Vanca several villages, mills and apiaries for the faithful service... near the Bik, on the side of the river that leads to Chishinat Albasa by the well, where there is a Tatar settlement not far from the forest. Probably, the history originates from here, because fountains have their own history like churches, villages and towns. It is not excluded, that the fountain had existed before that date - we only cited to the most ancient document, being preserved.

In the past, the Kishinev dwellers, according to doctor N.A. Morosanu, who published a number of articles on this theme in mass media ("Viata Basarabei", NN 5-6, 1936), used the water from the Bik and springs, located in the town territory. The drinking water was taken from the water-pump, called "fontal" by everybody. According to the contemporaries, water was received from 40 outfalls and several wells.

Researcher F. Poruchik wrote in "Bessarabskoe selskoe khozyaistvo" (N 4 of 15 February 1916, p. 50), that the name "fontal" we got from Genoese that were controlling the trade on the Dniester and its confluents. Such "fontals", to be named by peasants "izvoare" and later "cismele" by the Turkish, were built in such a way, that the water from the spring came into the specially fit tube. Stereotypically, the Genoese built "fontals" in the rest places that was located not far from the settlements.
This testifies again that the date of the fountain and the city of Chisinau (another spelling for Kishinev) can be much older than that mentioned firstly in documents.

The best water in Kishinev was considered to be the one flowing by the Mazarache hill. People took it with pails and water barrels. It was the occupation of water carriers that enjoyed a number of privileges and indulgences for paying state taxes. Nevertheless, they skinned the town inhabitants alive, especially in hard time, when the barrel of water was appraised at 1 rouble. At that time, it was big money, and the price for water - inconceivably high.

Although the discharge of the water-pump was sufficient for the Kishinev population, the city inhabitants not infrequently suffered the deficit of water because of the carriers' tricks being used for getting money.

In 1828, the city administration appointed a commission for studying the question of water supply in Kishinev. After the investigation the water-pump was reported to be in deplorable condition. Pails and barrels, with which people drew it, made the water dirty, women washed foul linen, herdsmen watered cattle. In 1829, the improvement of the "fontal" was begun; it was headed by Iogann Sueldgi, who was invited from Odessa. This improvement had been continuing until 1834. The total expenses were 28 116 roubles. In 30s, the city administration started mass building of wells and water-pumps in its different parts in order to abolish the water carriers' monopoly for the drinking water. 12 wells were documented to have been built in the Cathedral square in 1837. In 1843 the city dwellers took drinking water from three water pumps - two public ones and one private. There were 215 wells in the city territory.
The spring, named "Burcut", located on the left bank of the Bik, was cleaned and improved in the same year. Its mineral water had healing power.

In spite of these important measures, the city water supplying had much to be desired. That is why; it was decided to build a water pipe in Kishinev in 1862. However, this idea was only realized 30 years later. Meantime, on 7 November 1869 the city head ordered to organize a special service to keep the fountain under "supervision". The Duma accepted this suggestion and appointed Mr Dobromirov to be responsible.

The improvement works on the concrete pool began in the same year. French master Marsel Seurubil conducted them. The pool was 61.8 metres deep, 12.8 metres wide, 0.7 metres high. Besides that, he was divided into 4 sections. However, this building, followed by many others of the same kind, brought modicum perfection to the fountain. The silt, rabbish and send were accumulating here, as it was before.

The new "modern" era began in the last decade of the XIX century. The municipial plant was created in 1893. Three steam engines of the Wortington system were working here. Using the pumps, the water was delivered from the so-called allocation of the fountain. As a matter of fact, it was the same water, coming from the Mazarache stream.

In 1905 the first artesian well of the Kishinev water pipe was built. Its depth is 131.5 metres. In 1923 another artesian well appeared on the map of Kishinev. This time its depth was 70.29 metres. Afterwards, its depth was increased up to 123 metres. Both artesian wells were located in the valley of the Bik, on the right shore, in the yard of the water plant, at 43 and 45 metres above sea level.

The water was delivered using pumps. The 24-hour discharge of both wells exceeded 5 500 cubic metres. In spite of it, sometimes, the need exceeded the possibilities of these wells. Such crisis was reported in summer 1935, when the history of the Mazarache fountain was, as a matter of fact, finished.

In conclusion, we would like to suggest the following idea: according to the tradition of our nation, handing down from generation to generation, the "temple" (a religious holiday) of some locality is celebrated in the day of the church consecration that coincide with religious holidays. There are a lot of churches in Kishinev. Yet, only the Christmas Cathedral can pretend to be the central one due to its location. That is why the clergyman of the Cathedral, T. Borta, suggested celebrating the church holiday on 25 December (7 January on Julian calendar) in the day of the Cathedral consecration.

The railway station was built in 1870, and in 1871 the connection on the Tiraspol-Kishinev way was opened. The Tiraspol-Kishinev railway communication, being the first railway in Moldova, was opened in August 1871.  The first building of the railway station was built in 1870. This was the unique three-storey building, amazing people with perfection of its forms. It was completely destroyed in the years of World War II. The railway land site was formerly looking like this (from the "Cosmos" Hotel).

On the railway land site, waiting for the Bucharest-Kishinev train, the solid cab drivers are standing by their cabs and carriages, sifting out rich passengers.

The present building of the railway station was erected in 1948, being projected by architect L.M. Chuprin with A.V.Shusev's participation. The railway station is located in the valley of the Bik. This is the railway station after the building completion.

At that time, the destination of two tram routes, being the main kind of transport in Kishinev, was by the railway station.

After the October Revolution of 1917 «Sfatul Terii» (a representative organ) began to function. It proclaimed the creation of the Moldovan Democratic Republic on 2 December. On 13 December, in accordance with the «Sfatul Terii» call, Romanian troops run by general Brosteanu entered the Bessarabia. On 27 March 1918 «Sfatul Terii» voted for the Bessarabian unification to Romania and Kishinev became a part of it. On 1 January of 1919 the Municipal Conservatoire (the Academy of Music) was created in Kishinev, in 1927 - the Faculty of Theology, in 1934 the subsidiary of the Romanian Institute of social sciences, in 1939 - municipal picture gallery. Those years the quantity of the city population was not increasing, and in June 1941 Kishinev had 110 thousand people.

On 28 June 1940 the Soviet troops came to Kishinev, and on 2 August of that year Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was set up, with the capital in Kishinev. In 1940 the ceremonial opening of the State Philharmonic Society took place, on 23 August 1940 the Pedagogical University (today the Pedagogical University after I. Kryanga) was created, in November 1940 the State Museum of Fine Arts. Kishinev badly suffered from the earthquake in 1940.

From the first hours of the Great Patriotic War, on 22 June 1941, Kishinev became a front-line city; when it was dawning Kishinev was subjected to aircraft bombardment and soon occupied by the Romanian troops. On 16 July 1941 the Romanian flag was hoisted over the dome of Cathedral. 18 August 1941 Romanian King Mikhai and Marshal Ion Antonesky examined Kishinev. For Kishinev the war finished on 24 August 1944 when the Soviet warriors entered the city. It was a result of the Yassko-Kishinevskaya operation. There were not any intensive battles in the city area, but as a result of bombings and earthquakes the city was practically destroyed and the housing was lost up to 70%.

After World War II the city was being re-established and growing very fast. If in 1944 it only had 25 thousand inhabitants, by 1950 it had had 50 thousand.

For the purpose of «restoration and development of the national economy» from the different regions of the Soviet Union about a thousand and a half different specialists were directed: engineers, teachers, doctors etc. In 1945 the Second Leningrad Institute of Medicine came to Kishinev from evacuation together with its unique library, where the manuscripts of the Avisenna had kept. The cultural life of the country and city was stimulated.

13 August 1945 the “Jok” ensemble, that is glorious all over the world now, was created.

In 1945-1947 the general scheme of the Kishinev reconstruction was approved. Academician A. Shusev took part in the elaboration of it.

On 1 October 1946 the Kishinev State University was created.

On 6 October 1949 the Academy of Science s of Moldova was founded.

On 18 June 1950 the Botanical Gardens of Academy of Sciences were laid.

On 24 January 1957 the studio «Moldova-Film» was created.

In 1957 the ceremonial opening of the alley of classical authors took place.

The «Luciaferul» Theatre was created in 1960.

The National Palace was opened in 1974, the Organ Hall - on 15 September 1978, the new building of the National Opera House- in 1980, the Moldovan State Circus - in 1982.

Intensive economic and social development of the city assisted the migration mobility of the population. Moreover, it was being increased both owing to the agricultural population of the Republic (60%) and the specialists arrived from the other regions of the Soviet Union. The intake of immigrants in 1980 doubled in comparison with 1950. The birth of the 500-thousand Kishinev inhabitant was celebrated in 1979.

In the late 50s the new branches of industry began to develop in the capital of Moldova: device and machine engineering, further development was happening in the light and processing branches of industry; the tobacco plant and wine making enterprises were modernized. Since the late 70s electronic industry was being developed. But, in spite of the considerable volume of investments in the city economy in the Soviet period, its production is not able to compete in the international market and is chiefly supplied to the developing and socialist countries. The production of enterprises processing agricultural production, that is very frequently better in comparison with the western analogues, because of their taste qualities, do not find a market in the West due to the absence of attractive packaging and necessary advertisement in the international market. Predominantly, the food products are delivered to the former republics of the Soviet Union. On 31 August 1989 the Supreme Council of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted a decision concerning returning the Latin alphabet to the Moldovan language and claimed the Moldovan language to be the state one.

In 1990 the institute of Mayor was re-established in the Republic. The first mayor was N. Kostin. Now Serafim Urecheanu occupies this post.

On 27 April the law about tricolour that is streaming over our city was adopted. On 3 September the institute of President was introduced in Moldova. The first president of Moldova became Mircia Snegur. Nowadays the president of Moldova is Petru Lucinschi.

On 23 May 1991 the Parliament substituted the name of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic for the Republic of Moldova. 27 August 1991 the declaration of independence of the Republic of Moldova was adopted. It proclaimed the Moldova to be an independent state with the capital in Kishinev.