#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

”Sybir – Prison of Nations”

Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet

2 – 30 September 2026

Between 2 and 30 September 2026, the National Museum of History of Moldova and the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet, in cooperation with the Sybir Memorial Museum (Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru) in Białystok and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Moldova, will host the opening of the travelling exhibition "Sybir - Prison of Nations". This exhibition presents a chapter of history from the Second World War through photo-documentary testimonies about people living under Soviet occupation.

The exhibition recounts the tragic fate of Polish citizens, beginning with the Soviet invasion of Poland on 17 September 1939, continuing through mass deportations, imprisonment, and forced labour camps, and culminating in the chance to leave the Soviet Union - first with General Anders' Army, later with the units led by Zygmunt Berling, and finally with the return home after the end of the war. As part of the shared history of Central and Eastern Europe, following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the exhibition also highlights the history and memory of the inhabitants of Bessarabia after the Soviet occupation of the region.

It portrays the drama of Stalinist deportations, forced labour, harsh cold, difficult living conditions, and the lack of rights endured by those who passed through the Gulag. At the same time, the exhibition emphasizes that amid this cruel existence, the hope of reuniting with loved ones, the longing for home, and Christian faith remained for many deportees the only sources of resilience and survival. For years, their memories were overlooked, but today they stand as "an open book about our common past."

The photographs and oral history testimonies come from the collection of the Sybir Memorial Museum, the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova, Tomasz Kizny's GULAG album, and the public domain.

The exhibition is the result of cooperation between the Sybir Memorial Museum (Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru) in Białystok, the National Museum of History of Moldova, and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition will be open to the public until 30 September 2026, at the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance in Sighet (4 Corneliu Coposu Street, 435500, Sighetu Marmației, Romania).