ARCHITECTURE FOOD HISTORY CULTURE TRADITION 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 archeologists, 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 It happened, because Kishinev was firstly mentioned in historical documents in 1436 in the official document of voivodes (a voivode is the head of the army, district or province) of Moldova Ilie and Stephan Oanchya to the logofet - the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.

During the Russian-Turkish wars our town was twice set on fire by the retreating Turkish, 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.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.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.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 reestablished in the Republic. The first mayor was N. Kostin. Now this post is occupied by Serafim Urecheanu.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.