#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

"The Bessarabian Bulgarians and the Liberation of Bulgaria"

The House of Culture in Taraclia

March 4 – May 4, 2023

The photo-documentary exhibition "Bessarabian Bulgarians and the Liberation of Bulgaria", dedicated to the 145th anniversary of the liberation of Bulgaria from the domination of the Ottoman Empire, is made through the joint efforts of the National Museum of History of Moldova, the Taraclia District Council and the Scientific Society of Bulgarians from Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition is composed of 12 banners, which reflect the struggle of the Bulgarian people for national liberation. The images and documents present the main stages of the formation in Chisinau of the Bulgarian volunteer detachments. The number of Bessarabian Bulgarians (identified by their names), who entered these detachments, reaches the figure of 210 people. The participation of the Bessarabian Bulgarians as volunteers in the Liberation War of 1877-1878 is the result of preserving the Bulgarian national consciousness and the desire for Bulgaria, their ancestral homeland, to be free and independent.

The images capture the Bulgarian volunteers from Bessarabia in the fighting in the vicinity of Gabrovo, near Stara Zagora, Seinovo, Shipka and other Bulgarian settlements. A special place is dedicated to Major Olimpi Panov, originally from Taraclia. Being part of the first detachment of volunteers, he participated in the liberation of the town of Stara Zagora. He showed heroism in the battles of Šipka, Zeleno Dărvo, Şeinovo and Kotlenskia Balkan and was awarded the Military Order of the IV degree - a higher distinction, awarded exclusively for acts of heroism.

The images also show places of memory (monuments, commemorative plaques, obelisks, etc.), erected in honor of the Bessarabian Bulgarians, who contributed to the national liberation of their historical homeland - Bulgaria.

The exhibition "Bessarabian Bulgarians and the Liberation of Bulgaria" can be visited from March 4 to May 4, 2023, in the premises of the House of Culture in Taraclia, Karl Marx str.