#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

Publications

Library „Tyragetia"

Gheorghe Postică, Eugen Sava

The prehistoric and Late Antique settlements at Mereni

Biblioteca „Tyragetia” XXXVIII, Chișinău, 2023, 205 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-903-0; 978-36241-030-8.

The village of Mereni in the former land of Lăpușna is an old Romanian locality, founded during the reign of Alexander the Good, in the first quarter of the 15th century, and has strong răzăși traditions; the locality was attested in the documents written during the time of Stephen the Great, on 25 September 1475.

According to archaeological data, the first people appeared on the territory of the village of Mereni in prehistoric times. The oldest traces of human habitation in this area are about six thousand years old.

Since the Aeneolithic period (4th millennium BC), nomadic shepherds from the steppe regions of Eurasia roamed these lands in search of pastures. Nomadic tribes erected several earthen mounds in this area, in which they left the most ancient human burials. During the same period, on the territory of the Mereni lands there was a settlement that belonged to the civilization of Cucuteni-Trypillia.

In the middle of the second millennium BC, during the Bronze Age, another settlement was founded on the lands of Mereni, attributed to the Noua-Sabatinovka cultural community.

In the early Iron Age, around the middle of the first millennium BC, the Iranian tribes of the Scythians penetrated the lands of Mereni, leaving burial complexes and various exceptional cultural remains here.

During the Late Antiquity (3rd-4th centuries), there were four prosperous settlements in this territory, attributed to the archaeological culture of the Sântana de Mureș-Chernyakhov type.

In the period of migration of peoples, in the early Middle Ages (5th-14th centuries), nomadic shepherds of Turanian origin stayed on the lands of the village, who left graves in burial mounds located on the tops of the local hills. From the same period, traces of sedentary habitation have also been sporadically noted in the Mereni region.

In the given context, this work provides a scientific development of archaeological discoveries dating back to the period of the Late Antiquity at the Mereni "Chirca" settlement. At the same time, while presenting the stratigraphy of the settlement, in order to obtain the most complete possible picture of the Mereni "Chirca" site, the archaeological finds of the Late Antiquity period are considered in connection with remains attributed to other historical eras, including archaeological materials from the Bronze Age.

Contents

INTRODUCTION

1. GEOGRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK AND HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH