#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 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.

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Exhibitions

"The German Colony of Emmental – Artistic Reflections"

September 17 – October 17, 2024

The exhibition "The German Colony of Emmental - Artistic Reflections," organized by the National Museum of History of Moldova in partnership with the Municipality of Pervomaisc, will be inaugurated on September 17, 2024, at 1:00 PM. It marks 210 years since the arrival of the first German settlers in Bessarabia, offering an artistic journey into the history and heritage of the German community in the region.

The Germans of Bessarabia represented the last wave of German emigrants who settled in "New Russia" following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by Russia in May 1812. In the Appeal "To the Germans of the Duchy of Warsaw," dated November 29, 1813, Tsar Alexander I invited German settlers to establish themselves by the Black Sea, promising them land and freedoms. The immigrants came mainly from southwestern Germany and Prussia.

Over 125 years of colonization, this minority developed a prosperous community in Bessarabia, characterized by local autonomy and a strong Protestant work ethic. The German settlers lived in peaceful proximity with other ethnic and religious communities. In 1940, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939), 93,500 Germans from Bessarabia were relocated, primarily to occupied Poland. At the beginning of 1945, they were forced to flee and create new lives in a divided Germany.

The exhibition explores the story and legacy of the German settlers from Emmental (now Pervomaisc), one of the largest German colonies in Bessarabia, reflected in the paintings of Antonina Casap, a native of this village. The displayed works evoke rural landscapes of unique serenity, the specific architecture of German villages, portraits depicting the daily lives of settlers, the community's traditions and customs, as well as abstract compositions reflecting the dynamic cultural and social changes.

The exhibition discourse offers a new perspective on how art can interpret the history of a community. Each displayed work acts as a bridge between the past and the present, inviting reflection on how history shapes our collective and individual identities.

The exhibition "The German Colony of Emmental - Artistic Reflections" will be open to visitors from September 17 to October 9, 2024, at the National Museum of History of Moldova, 121A August 31, 1989 Street, Chișinău.