#Exhibit of the Month

The Chișinău Diocesan Girls' School opened its doors on May 3, 1864, addressing a pressing need: in Bessarabia there were no institutions dedicated to the education of clergy's daughters. According to the 1864 circular, teaching was conducted in the Romanian language, a provision applied throughout the diocese. The school's first headmistress was Anastasia Rizo, of noble origin, invited by Archbishop Antonie.

The curriculum, approved by the Ministry of Public Education and the Chișinău Diocese, combined theoretical subjects with practical training. Students studied religion, reading and writing in Romanian, Slavonic, and Russian, arithmetic and exercises in calculation, world history and geography. The program was complemented by church singing and practical skills such as sewing, embroidery, knitting, as well as household management - baking bread and prosphora, preparing meals and preserves, caring for livestock, and cultivating gardens.

The composite, taken in 1911 at the studio of Z. N. Sumovski in Chișinău, depicts 29 graduates and 13 teachers. At the center are portraits of Bishop Serafim (Ciciagov), headmistress N. R. Mihelson, teacher V. E. Bejerian, and priests F. Ghiliarov and P. Jurikas. Among the teaching staff was Paraskovia Vasilievna Cuciurenko, a calligraphy teacher for 37 years, who in 1911 became senior educator and assistant headmistress. For her dedication, she was awarded the gold medal "For Long Service."

On the reverse of the vignette is a label from the store and workshop of frames, paintings, mirrors, and window glass owned by A. D. Kon'gova, Chișinău, Gogol Street no. 37, near the State Bank.

This graduation composite was donated at the end of 2025 to the National Museum of History of Moldova by the Dadiștian family from Drochia.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“CHILDHOOD IN THE GULAG”

ȚĂRII CRIȘURILOR MUSEUM – MUSEUM COMPLEX

January 16 – March 1, 2024

On January 16, 2024, the Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions of the National Museum of History of Moldova together with the Țării Crișurilor Museum - Museum Complex, in partnership with the Bihor County Council and the Oradea City Hall, in cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania, organized the opening of the photo-documentary exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" (curator Dr. Ludmila Cojocaru).

The exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" presents photo-documentary images that reflect the life of Bessarabian children condemned to deportation, starvation, Russification, indoctrination and forced separation from their families based on the repressive policies of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR, in the periods 1940-1941 and 1944-1953. The exhibition brings together about 180 photo-documentary images, accompanied by memories and archival documents from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova, the Edineț County Museum, the Museum of History and Ethnography in Soroca, the Pro Memory Institute, from the archives of the local memory communities, as well as from the family archives of the totalitarian-communist regime's victims.

The vernissage was opened by the public speeches by Prof. Dr. Gabriel Moisa, manager of the Oradea Țării Crișurilor Museum - Museum Complex, Dr. Cristina Liana Pușcaș, museographer, and via video by the curator Dr. Ludmila D. Cojocaru, Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions, branch of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Among those present at the Opening were: SE Virgil Bercea, the Greek-Catholic bishop of Oradea, deputy Ioan Mang, as well as students from the "Iuliu Maniu" Greek-Catholic High School, the "Emanuil Gojdu" National College and the Orthodox High School "Roman Bishop Ciorogariu" of Oradea.

The exhibition is hosted by the Oradea City Museum section (Emanuil Gojdu Street no. 39-41) until March 1, 2024, and can be visited from Tuesday to Sunday, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

The photo-documentary exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" was made with the support of "The Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.