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.
The printings from Neamț Monastery from XIX centuries in Bessarabia
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. III [XVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Through contribution of hierarchy of Moldova Country Churches as well as abbots of Neamț Monastery, Neamț printing-house printed numerous church books useful for Christians on the whole Romanian area. These can be met and nowadays in Bessarabia churches and are of use for the divine services as they were at the time they were printed. The area of these books circulation is vast enough, but Neamț Monastery becomes one of the most remarkable cultural and spiritual Romanian centres. Priests and parishioners from Bessarabia, though estranged after 1812 by Romanian spirituality will feel the need of religious books and the Neamț Monastery will be one of the principle centres of Romanian culture and spirituality spreading to the East of the Prut. After the return of Bessarabia in Romanian trough after 1918, monks of that monastery would present religious books to Bessarabia and Bucovina, the proof of which are the inscriptions made by the owners of the books preserved up to nowadays. Among the most illustrative books printed at Neamț monastery and which circulated to the East of Prut are the following:
Igor Cereteu
On the distribution of early printed books published in Chișinău
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Igor Cereteu
Pages from the history of the Hâncu Monastery library
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Igor Cereteu
The Transylvanien printings from Basarabia (from the second half of XVIIIth and the first decades of XXth centuries
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Igor Cereteu
A manuscript about clergymen of the Nativity Cathedral in Chișinău during 1840-1851
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Igor Cereteu
Priest Gheorghe Armaşu: victim of the repression of the totalitarian communist system
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIX [XXXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie, Chişinău, 2025
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
