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 noblewoman Anastasia Dmitrievna Rizo, 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 mental 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 vignette, created in 1911 at the photographic 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. A notable figure is Praskovia 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." By 1911, the school had 648 students across 17 classes. Its library contained 7,414 volumes, including 3,955 for students and 3,459 for teachers. Graduates, often becoming priests' wives or teachers in rural and urban schools, contributed to spreading faith and moral education, strengthening the cultural and spiritual role of the institution. On the reverse of the vignette is a label reading: "Store and workshop for frames, paintings, mirrors, and window glass, A. D. Kon'gova, Chișinău, Gogol Street no. 37, next to the State Bank." This unique vignette was donated at the end of 2025 to the National Museum of History of Moldova by the Dadiștian family from Drochia.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Keywords: Dimitrie Cantemir, Edmond Ciuntu, Mikhail Ostrovsky, Ion Dic, the Greek Monastery of St. Nicholas, the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Moscow, Romania.
Abstract: Frequently not only lifetime, but the posthumous biography of any historical figure becomes overgrown by numerous myths, legends and mysteries. The biography of the outstanding thinker of the first quarter of the 18th century, the Moldavian ruler Dimitrie Cantemir was no exception.
The current publication is dedicated to the research of one of the least developed areas of Cantemirology - the study of the authenticity of the Moldavian prince's remains, which were transferred by the USSR Government to Romania and reburied in Iași in June 1935.
On the basis of numerous archival documents taken from the archives of the ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Romania, for the first time introduced into the scientific use, the author convincingly and gravely substantiates a version that that the transferred remains do not belong to Dimitrie Cantemir.
List of illustrations: Fig. 1. Nicolae Iorga, Nicolae Titulescu and the members of the governmental commission meet the coffin with the remains of D. Cantemir. Constanța, June 1935. Fig. 2. The letter of thanks signed by N. Titulescu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania, addressed to M. Ostrosky, the Ambassador of the Soviet Union in Romania, in connection with the transfer of the remains of Dimitrie Cantemir. Fig. 3. Project of the building of the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry. Authors: A. Vesnin, V. Vesnin, S. Lyashenko. 1934. Fig. 4. Project of the building of the People's Commissariat for Heavy Industry. Authors: I. Fomin, P. Abrosimov, M. Minkus. 1934.
Victor Țvircun
Unknown pages from the biography of Ivan Ilyinsky-Yaroslavets, secretary of Dimitrie Cantemir
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XVII [XXXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Виктор Цвиркун
Unknown pages of the biography of C.A. Cantemir
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIII [XXVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Виктор Цвиркун
Anna Cantacuzino-Sheremeteva: Unknown pages of biography
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XV [XXX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
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...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
