#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.

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Events Archive

Roundtable “Holocaust, hunger and deportations - crimes of the twentieth century”

25 January 2017

On 25 January 2017, the National Museum of History of Moldova in cooperation with "Ion Creanga" Lyceum organized a roundtable on "Holocaust, hunger and deportations - crimes of the twentieth century".

The roundtable discussions were attended by dr. Aurelia Felea, dr. Viorica Olaru-Cemârtan and PhD student Mariana Fabian, students from "Ion Creanga" Lyceum, teachers, specialists. The event was moderated by dr. Mariana Ţăranu.
At the meeting were discussed various aspects of Romanian Holocaust, reflection of Holocaust in artistic films from the MSSR. The speakers presented film fragments which were commented afterwards. This topic caused intense and contradictory discussions.

Special attention was drawn to the famine organized by the Soviets in Bessarabia and its consequences, in particular the focus was placed on famine impact on the community. The materials presented were supported by factual data, interviews and photos.

The fate of the Bessarabian Romanians in the Stalinist Gulag was reflected based on case studies and archival material. Life of the descendants of deported families in 1941 and 1949, which remained in Siberia, their occupations and ways of integration into the Siberian social environment was presented by a documentary film made in the project "Expeditions of memory". Dr. Viorica Olaru-Cemârtan, member of the project, made several comments and clarifications.

At the roundtable was presented a book exhibition.