Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city and largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre. It is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc, a tributary of the Dniester. According to the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău (which includes the city itself and other nearby communities) was 700,000. Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transport hub. Nearly a third of Moldova's population lives in the metropolitan area.
Moldova has a Moldovan wine dating back to at least 3,000 BC. As the capital city, Chișinău hosts the yearly national wine festival every October. Though the city's buildings were badly damaged during the Second World War and earthquakes, a rich architectural heritage remains. In addition, it has numerous buildings designed in the postwar Socialist realism and Brutalist architecture styles.
The city's central railway station boasts a Russian-Imperial architectural style, and maintains direct railway links to Romania. The Swiss-Italian-Russian architect Alexander Bernardazzi designed many of the city's buildings, including the Chișinău City Hall, Church of Saint Theodore, and the Church of Saint Panteleimon. The city hosts the National Museum of Fine Arts, Moldova State University, Brancusi Gallery, and National Museum of History of Moldova, with more than 236,000 exhibits.
There are bustling markets in the north of the city, including the house where Alexander Pushkin once resided while in exile from Alexander I of Russia. It has now been adapted as a museum. The Nativity Cathedral, located at the centre of the city and constructed in the 1830s, has been described as a "masterpiece" of Neoclassical architecture.
The other version, formulated by (or attributed to) Ștefan Ciobanu, (occasionally to Iorgu Iordan) Romanian historian and academician, holds that the name was formed the same way as the name of Chișineu (alternative spelt as Chișinău) in Western Romania, near the border with Hungary. Its Hungarian name is Kisjenő, from which the Romanian name originates. Kisjenő comes from kis "small" and the Jenő, one of the seven Hungarian tribes that entered the Carpathian Basin in 896.
A third theory by Kiss Lajos linguist and Slavic studies holds (as possible origin) that the name came from the Cumans kešene ("grave", kurgan) and the Karachays for "cemetery", and these came from the Persian language word ("house"). [1]
Chișinău is known in Russian as (Кишинёв, ), while Moldova's Russian-language media call it (Кишинэу, ). It is written Kişinöv in the Latin Gagauz alphabet. It was also written as Chișineu in pre–20th-century Romanian and as Кишинэу in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, the English-language name for the city, Kishinev, was based on the modified Russian one because it entered the English language via Russian at the time Chișinău was part of the Russian Empire (e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Therefore, it remains a common English name in some historical contexts. Otherwise, the Romanian-based Chișinău has been steadily gaining wider currency, especially in written language. The city is also historically referred to as ; ; ; ; , ; ; ; or .
Under Russian government, Chișinău became the capital of the newly annexed oblast (later guberniya) of Bessarabia. By 1834, an imperial townscape with broad and long roads had emerged as a result of a generous development plan, which divided Chișinău roughly into two areas: the old part of the town, with its irregular building structures, and a newer city centre and station. Between 26 May 1830 and 13 October 1836 the architect Avraam Melnikov established the Catedrala Nașterea Domnului with a magnificent bell tower. In 1840 the building of the Triumphal Arch, planned by the architect Luca Zaushkevich, was completed. Following this the construction of numerous buildings and landmarks began.
On 28 August 1871, Chișinău was linked by rail with Tiraspol, and in 1873 with Cornești. Chișinău-Ungheni-Iași railway was opened on 1 June 1875 in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The town played an important part in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, as the main staging area of the Russian invasion. During the Belle Époque, the mayor of the city was Carol Schmidt, whose contribution to the modernisation of the city is still commemorated by Moldovans. Its population had grown to 92,000 by 1862, and to 125,787 by 1900.Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
As part of the pogrom wave organized in the Russian Empire, a large Antisemitism riot was organized in the town on 19–20 April 1903, which would later be known as the Kishinev pogrom. The rioting continued for three days, resulting in 47 Jews dead, 92 severely wounded, and 500 suffering minor injuries. In addition, several hundred houses and many businesses were plundered and destroyed. Some sources say 49 people were killed.Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol 10, page 1066. Jerusalem, 1971. The pogroms are largely believed to have been incited by anti-Jewish propaganda in the only official newspaper of the time, Bessarabetz ( Бессарабецъ). Mayor Schmidt disapproved of the incident and resigned later in 1903. The reactions to this incident included a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia on behalf of United States by US President Theodore Roosevelt in July 1903.
On 22 August 1905, another violent event occurred: the police opened fire on an estimated 3,000 demonstrating agricultural workers. Only a few months later, on 19–20 October 1905, a further protest occurred, helping to force the hand of Nicholas II in bringing about the October Manifesto. However, these demonstrations suddenly turned into another anti-Jewish pogrom, resulting in 19 deaths.
Between 1918 and 1940, the center of the city undertook large renovation work. Romania granted important subsidies to its province and initiated large scale investment programs in the infrastructure of the main cities in Bessarabia, expanded the railroad infrastructure and started an extensive program to eradicate illiteracy.
In 1927, the Stephen the Great Monument, by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală, was erected. In 1933, the first higher education institution in Bessarabia was established, by transferring the Agricultural Sciences Section of the University of Iași to Chișinău, as the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.
Following the Soviet occupation, mass deportations, linked with atrocities, were executed by the NKVD between June 1940 and June 1941. More than 400 people were summarily executed in Chișinău in July 1940 and buried in the grounds of the Metropolitan Palace, the Chișinău Theological Institute, and the backyard of the Italian Consulate, where the NKVD had established its headquarters. As part of the policy of political repression of the potential opposition to the Communist power, tens of thousands of members of native families were deported from Bessarabia to other regions of the USSR.
A devastating earthquake occurred on 10 November 1940, measuring 7.4 (or 7.7, according to other sources) on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the quake was in the Vrancea Mountains, and it led to substantial destruction: 78 deaths and 2,795 damaged buildings (of which 172 were 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. Chișinău was severely affected in the chaos of the Second World War. In June and July 1941, the city came under bombardment by Nazi air raids. However, the Romanian and newly Moldovan sources assign most of the responsibility for the damage to Soviet NKVD destruction battalions, which operated in Chișinău until 17 July 1941, when it was captured by Axis forces.
During the German and Romanian military administration, the city suffered from the Holocaust of its Jewish inhabitants, who were transported on trucks to the outskirts of the city and then summarily shot in partially dug pits. The number of Jews murdered during the initial occupation of the city is estimated at 10,000 people. The deportation of the city's Jews to Transnistria reduced its Jewish population from 11,388 in the fall of 1941 to 177 in 1943; a large majority of the deportees died.See Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011) p. 266-269, with the statistics on p. 269. During this time, Chișinău, part of Lăpușna County, was the capital of the newly established Bessarabia Governorate of Romania.
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 as a result of the Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive.
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.
There was rapid population growth in the 1950s, to which the Soviet administration responded by constructing large-scale housing and palaces in the style of Stalinist architecture. This process continued under Nikita Khrushchev, who called for construction under the slogan "good, cheaper, and built faster." The new architectural style brought about dramatic change and generated the style that dominates today, with large blocks of flats arranged in considerable settlements. These Khrushchev-era buildings are often informally called Khrushchyovka.
The period of the most significant urban renewal began in 1971, when the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union adopted a decision "On the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev," which secured more than one billion Soviet ruble in investment from the Budget, and continued until the independence of Moldova in 1991. The share of dwellings built during the Soviet period (1951–1990) represents 74.3 percent of total households.
On 4 March 1977, the city was again jolted by a devastating earthquake. Several people were killed, and panic broke out. The Intourist Hotel, a flagship property constructed by the Intourist, was completed in 1978.
On 22 April 1993, the city inaugurated the Monument to the Victims of Jewish Ghettos, a public monument centring on a bronze statue of the Prophet Moses, which serves as a symbol of remembrance to the thousands of Jews who perished during the holocaust. The monument was designed by architect Simeon Shoihet and sculptor Naum Epelbaum. It stands on Ierusalim Street, marking the site of the main entrance to the Chișinău ghetto, which was established in the lower part of the city in July 1941, shortly after the German and Romanian troops occupied the area.
On 5 September 2022, the country's first Christian university Universitatea Moldo-Americană opened its doors, supported by the Scandinavian broadcaster Visjon Norge and several donors in Norway, and run in cooperation with the American Southeastern University in Florida, United States.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moldova allowed more than 600,000 Ukrainian civilians to flee Ukraine across their border. Despite being among the poorest states in Europe, Moldova has continued to host more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of them in Chișinău.
On 23 November 2022, the Chișinău Court of Appeal ruled that Chișinău International Airport will return to state ownership, according to justice minister Sergiu Litvinenco, more than three months after an international court allowed Moldova to terminate a 49-year concession deal with airport operator Avia Invest. In April 2023, the Dutch Government opened a new embassy in Chișinău.
On 21 May 2023, tens of thousands of Moldovans took to the streets in a massive rally, the European Moldova National Assembly, to support the country's European Union membership bid. Moldovan police said more than 75,000 demonstrators were present at the rally organised by Moldovan president Maia Sandu.
Later that month, Chișinău hosted a major international summit of the European Political Community organised to discuss the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as cybersecurity, migration and energy security, and regional issues in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and clashes in Kosovo.
The city lies in central Moldova and is surrounded by a relatively level landscape with very fertile ground.
Chișinău is roughly equidistant between the borders with Romania (58 km.) and Ukraine (54 km.), and between the northernmost (188 km.) and southernmost (179 km.) points of Moldova, thus meaning that it is very close to Moldova's geographic centre.
Spring and autumn temperatures vary between , and precipitation during this time tends to be lower than in summer but with more frequent yet milder periods of rain.
The 2023 election also brought in a new city council. The percentages of votes and the resulting number of seats for parties represented in the council are listed below.
Besides the city itself, the municipality comprises 34 other suburban localities: 6 towns (containing further 2 villages within), and 12 communes (containing further 14 villages within). The population, as of the 2014 Moldovan census, is shown in brackets:
Notable sites around Chișinău include Cineplex Loteanu, the new malls Malldova, Port Mall and best-known retailers, such as N1, Linella, Kaufland, Fourchette and Metro. While many locals continue to shop at the , many upper class residents and tourists shop at the retail stores and at MallDova. Jumbo, an older mall in the Botanica district, and Sun City, in the centre, are more popular with locals.
Several amusement parks exist around the city. A Soviet Union-era one is located in the Botanica district, along the three lakes of a major park, which reaches the outskirts of the city centre. Another, the modern Aventura Park, is located farther from the centre. The Chișinău State Circus, which used to be in a grand building in the Râșcani sector, has been inactive for several years due to a poorly funded renovation project.
Population by sector:
According to the 2024 census results, the major religions in Chișinău were:
Many modern-style buildings have been built in the city since 1991. There are many office and shopping complexes that are modern, renovated or newly built, including Kentford, SkyTower, and Unión Fenosa headquarters. However, the old Soviet-style clusters of living blocks are still an extensive feature of the cityscape.
On 5 September 2022, the country's first Christian university Universitatea Moldo-Americană opened its doors, supported by the Scandinavian broadcaster Visjon Norge and several donors in Norway, and run in cooperation with the American Southeastern University in Florida, United States.
In Chișinău there are several museums. The three national museums are the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Museum of History of Moldova. The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History was founded in October 1889 by baron Alexandru Stuart, moved to its current location in 1905, and is the oldest museum in Moldova. It houses more than 135,000 exhibit pieces, among them a life-sized reconstruction of the skeleton of a dinothere, discovered in the Rezine region in 1966. It also includes exhibits on natural history, , archaeology, paleontology, geology, and ethnography. The building was designed by the architect Vladimir Tsyganko in a distinctive Moorish architectural style with a signature frontal façade consisting of a triangular pediment supported by two Doric order.
The National Library of Moldova is also located in Chișinău.
Moldova National Wine Day and Wine Festival take place every year in the first weekend of October, in Chișinău. The events celebrate the autumn harvest and recognises the country's long history of winemaking, which dates back to at least 3,000 BCE. Moldova has been called the wine capital of Europe and its yearly festival is a major cultural and tourist event, and every year the streets are filled with people enjoying food, wine, dance, and music taking over the streets. Moldova's most-awarded sommelier Mihai Druta has described Moldovan wine as being about "small producers and family wineries making premium wine. And nothing costs more than 100 Euro a bottle." Daily Express in 2019 described the city as "Europe's latest hotspot" in which journalist Maisha Frost praised "its wines, monumental wineries and their epic tasting sessions."
The state national broadcaster in the country is the Public ownership Moldova 1, which has its head office in the city. The broadcasts of TeleradioMoldova have been criticised by the Independent Journalism Center as showing 'bias' towards the authorities.
Other TV channels based in Chișinău are Pro TV Chișinău, PRIME, Jurnal TV, Publika TV, CTC, DTV, Euro TV, TV8, etc. In addition to television, most Moldovan radio and newspaper companies have their headquarters in the city. Broadcasters include the national radio Vocea Basarabiei, Prime FM, BBC Moldova, Radio Europa Libera, Kiss FM Chișinău, Pro FM Chișinău, Radio 21, Fresh FM, Radio Nova, Russkoye Radio, Hit FM Moldova, and many others.
The biggest broadcasters are SunTV, StarNet (IPTV), Moldtelecom (IPTV), Satellit and Zebra TV. In 2007 SunTV and Zebra launched digital TV cable networks.
FlyOne and HiSky airlines have their headquarters, and Wizz-Air has its hub on the grounds of Chișinău Eugen Doga International Airport.
Chișinău Railway Station has an international railway terminal with connections to Bucharest, Kyiv, Minsk, Odesa, Moscow, Samara, Varna and St. Petersburg. Due to the simmering conflict between Moldova and the unrecognised Transnistria the rail traffic towards Ukraine is occasionally stopped.
As of October 2017, there are 1,100 units of minibuses operating within Chișinău. Minibuses services are priced the same as buses – 3 Moldovan leu for a ticket (ca. $0.18).
Zimbru Stadium, which opened in May 2006 with a seating capacity of 10,500, meets all the requirements for hosting official international matches and serves as the home venue for the Moldova national football team.
Since 2011, CS Femina-Sport Chișinău has organized women's competitions in seven sports.
Arena Chișinău, an indoor arena was opened in 2022.
The FMF Beach Soccer Arena, a beach soccer stadium that opened in 2022, was the main venue for the Socca EuroCup events held in 2023 and 2024.
The city also hosts the annual Chișinău International Marathon.
Romanian period
World War II
Soviet period
After independence
Geography
Climate
Law and government
Government and politics
Municipal administration
Cities/towns
Communes
Administrative sectors
Economy
Demographics
Botanica 156,633 170,600 Buiucani 107,744 110,100 Sectorul Centru 90,494 96,200 Sectorul Ciocana 101,834 115,900 Râșcani 132,740 146,200
Ethnic composition
+ Population of Chișinău according to ethnic group (Censuses 1959–2024) Moldovans * 69,722 32.38 137,942 37.90 366,468 51.26 481,626 68.94 304,860 67.18 – 72.90 Romanians * 331 0.15 513 0.14 – 31,984 4.58 65,605 14.46 – 13.07 Russians 69,600 32.22 110,449 30.35 181,002 25.32 99,149 14.19 42,174 9.29 – 5.91 Ukrainians 25,930 12.00 51,103 14.04 98,190 13.73 58,945 8.44 26,991 5.95 – 5.10 Bulgarians 1,811 0.84 3,855 1.06 9,224 1.29 8,868 1.27 4,850 1.07 – 0.92 Gagauz people 1,476 0.68 2,666 0.73 6,155 0.86 6,446 0.92 3,108 0.68 – 0.79 Others 45,626 21.12 54,688 15.03 47,525 6.65 11,605 1.66 6,210 1.37 – 1.31 1Source:[3]. 2Source:[4]. 3Source:[5]. 4Source:[6]. 5Source:[7]. 6Source: Census 2024 * Since the independence of Moldova, there is an ongoing controversy over whether Moldovans and Romanians are the same ethnic group.
** In 2014, part of the population weren't reviewed.
Languages
+ Languages usually spoken in Chișinău (Censuses 1989–2024) Romanian * – 37.06 43.78 49.09 Moldovan * 46.15 28.56 29.55 26.12 Russian language 44.73 33.50 25.64 23.17 Other languages 9.12 0.88 1.03 1.62 * The Moldovan language represents the Linguonym (dialect) given to the Romanian language. 1Sursă:
target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[9]. 2Sursă:[10]. 3Sursă:[11]. 4Source: Census 2024
Religion
Cityscape
Architecture
Culture and education
Education
Events and festivals
Media
Politics
Elections
Transport
Airport
Road
Rail
Public transport
Trolleybuses
Buses
Minibuses
Traffic
Sport
Notable people
Natives
Residents
Twin towns – sister cities
Notes
Further reading
External links
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