#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.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„The Way of Coffee”

March 17 – April 30, 2012

(From the private collection of Alexandru Stucalov)

The exhibition brings together objects related to coffee, which were collected by Alexander Stucalov from 1964. It is complemented by some pieces from the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova.

The exhibition is a journey into the history of coffee, showing not only how they prepare it in different countries, but also the evolution of coffee machines, from ordinary coffee-pots to the present-day coffee makers and espresso-machines.

The history of coffee is reflected by about 480 items of ware, equipment and utensils for preparing and serving this magical liquor: Arabian and Turkish cups, cups produced in Europe, roasters, coffee grinders, coffee pots, coffee makers of different types, espresso-machines, coffee packages, etc. The oldest exhibits date from the late nineteenth century (a coffee pot and a coffee machine with filter), and the latest ones from 2011.

To create an atmosphere of a coffee house and combine everything related to coffee consumption, there were reconstructed two public places: oriental one (Turkish), the main elements of which are coffee on sand and a hookah or a pipe, and European one, where over a cup of coffee people read newspapers and play various games.

The subject of exhibition is backed up by artworks by Aurelia Nașcu, Ana Pronin, Elvira Cemortan-Voloșin, Dorina Casapu, Iurie Palcov, Maxim Egorov, Dumitru Balica, Nata Procop, Victoria Cozmolici, Eduard Maidenberg, and Olga Rusanovskaya, as well as by artistic photos made by the learners of Roman Rybalyov's school.

The exhibition can be visited until April 30, 2012.