Elina Amann, translated and edited by Alla Vronskaya

Bordering Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, Moldova, previously Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) within the USSR, is located in the region historically known as Bessarabia. Its culture and language are closely related to those of Romania, while its economy, like that of Romania, was traditionally based on agriculture.

Since the late Middle Ages, the region was under the political dominance of Ottoman Turkey, Poland, and Hungary, until falling under the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century. Following the Soviet revolution, Besarabia was divided into two parts: while most of its territory (including the capital Chișinău) was incorporated into Romania, Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (MASSR) was declared in 1919 as a part of the Ukrainian SSR with its capital in the city of Balta (1919-1929) and later Tiraspol (1929-1940). In 1940, as a part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and MSSR was formed as a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, uniting Bessarabia and MASSR, with the capital in Chișinău.

The Soviet power pursued an active construction program in the republic, erecting housing, public buildings, and large industrial complexes. At the same, many immigrants from the Slavic republics, primarily from Russia and Ukraine, moved to Moldova, while the former Moldovan elites were deported from the republic during the 1940s. Meanwhile, the Soviet power insisted on the difference between Moldavian and Romanian languages and prevented travel between MSSR and Romania. The 1980s saw the rise of Romanian nationalism. In 1989, the republic moved from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet, gaining independence shortly after. As the Soviet bloc collapsed, Romania and Moldova restored their cultural and social ties.

During the interwar period, Moldova did not have institutes of higher education, and Moldovans studied in Romanian universities. First female architects in Moldova, such as Rosalia Spierer, were graduates of the Bucharest College of Architecture (now the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu”). The Chişinău Polytechnic Institute was founded in MSSR in the aftermath of the Second World War to address the shortage of skilled labor for the reconstruction effort.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet architects prepared general plans for the cities of Beltsy, Bendery, Cahul, Chişinău, Orhei, Rybniza, Soroki, and Tiraspol. New neighborhoods were designed based on the principles of socialist modernism, with multi-storey concrete residential buildings. The Russian-born architect Alla Kirichenko was instrumental in the planning and architectural design in the capital Chişinău. In the 1970s, buildings became progressively taller to accommodate more residential units: if earlier residential buildings were typically four- to five-storey, now they have become as tall as 24 stories. More than simply providing shelter, such complexes as “City Gates” (Yulia Skvortsova), the hotel “Cosmos” (Irina Kolbayeva) or “Romanita” (Elena Zabunova) symbolized the social and cultural values of this period.

Moldova gained independence as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The transition to neoliberal economy led to the impoverishment of the country, neglect and dilapidation of existing buildings, and a halt in new construction. The largest ruin in the middle of the capital, the State Circus in Chișinău by Alla Kirichenko and the now-dilapidated modernist hotel “Cosmos” by Irina Kolbayeva embody the consequences of the post-independence economic crisis. Although in recent years some efforts were invested in the construction of roads and buildings maintenance, as well as in the construction of shopping malls and elite housing, they also resulted in intensifying the economic split within the society. Today, Moldova remains the poorest country in Europe.

Sources: 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldauische_Sozialistische_Sowjetrepublik

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldauische_Autonome_Sozialistische_Sowjetrepublik

https://www.hisour.com/de/moldavian-style-29914/,

Mariana Șlapac, “Contribution of Women Architects to the Architectural-urban Development of Chișinău,” DIALOGICA. Cultural Studies and Literature Scientific Journal, Vol. 11(Nr. 2/2022), 47–57. Available online: https://zenodo.org/record/7033806#.Y-VgY62ZNPZ. Accessed on February 9, 2023.