#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 scientist Ovidiu Bădina: memory and value”

November 23 – December 23, 2022

On November 23, 2022, in the upstairs hall of the National Museum of History of Moldova, was inaugurated the exhibition „The scientist Ovidiu Bădina: memory and value".

This monographic exhibition is dedicated to a prominent personality in the field of research and education - the scientist, university professor Ovidiu Bădina (1932-1999).

The exhibition project marks the 90th anniversary of the scientist's birth, and the theme of the approach addresses the scientific and didactic activity as a university professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and Chisinau, the sociological research carried out in the Republic of Moldova, including the monographic research of the village Cornova, the relations of professor Ovidiu Bădina with the representatives of some state and private institutions.

The exhibition displays documents, photos, books, personal objects of the teacher, which come from the museum collection, from private collections, a large part of the exhibits being presented to the public for the first time. Visitors have the opportunity - through the exhibited materials - to know important data from the scholar's biography, to discover in the exhibition original, memorial objects that belonged to Professor Ovidiu Bădina, to obtain new information about the beginning of sociological research in the Republic of Moldova, initiated by the professor Ovidiu Badina.

In Chisinau, together with Paul Braun, he contributes to the creation of the Academy of Economic Studies from the Republic of Moldova. He established the National Institute of Sociology in Chisinau, and as the director of this institution he organized and conducted numerous sociological researches in various fields of the economy, investigated and analyzed various social and political phenomena in the republic, elaborating measures for practical actions.

The exhibition „The scientist Ovidiu Bădina: memory and value" can be visited in the upstairs hall of the National Museum of History of Moldova between November 23 - December 23, 2022.