#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

International Collaboration

October 15th, 2021

New ICOM Red List to focus on objects from Southeast Europe

Focusing on 10 countries in Southeast Europe, ICOM worked with experts and coordinators from across the region to create a Red List which features 119 objects from 45 museums from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

On 14 October 2021, ICOM officially launched its 18th Red List. While the global pandemic has dampened any expectations for a large-scale unveiling of the Red List for Southeast European Cultural Objects at Risk, it did not stop ICOM's team of dedicated experts who continued to work remotely across Europe to bring this important heritage protection tool to completion. The first Red List to focus on the European continent, it will also be ICOM's largest to date. Not only is this tool a testament to the rich and diverse heritage of the region, but ICOM and its experts sincerely hope it will contribute to alleviating the problem of illicit trafficking of cultural objects.

The heritage of some important cultural institutions in the Republic of Moldova: the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Museum of Art of Moldova, the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National Library of Moldova, is part of this list. The ICOM project for the Republic of Moldova was coordinated by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Moldova and the National Museum of History of Moldova.