#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.

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Archaeological research at the Mazarache church from Chisinau

July – October, 2010

During July – October, 2010 the archaeological expedition of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova carried out investigations near the Mazarache Church from Chisinau and in the cemetery adjacent to the site. In about 40 investigated graves together with other material able to shed light on the time periods when the cemetery was used (pottery, buttons, earrings, rings, etc.) there were found many coins attributed to the medieval and pre-modern times. At the same time, there were discovered a defensive ditch of the Early Iron Age, a cellar of the 17th – 18th centuries, and remnants of an aqueduct of the 19th century.

Being founded, apparently, in 1742, the Mazarache Church from Chisinau which is dedicated to the Intercession of the Virgin is considered to be the oldest church in the city and is built in the Moldavian style.

It should be mentioned that the archaeological investigations by the Mazarache Church have confirmed the information from written sources on the location of Chisinau (the Gospodar’s charter of July 17, 1436, which refers to Chesenaul of Acbas, and one of 1466 about the settlement of Chisinau near the Albisoara Fountain), and local tradition about the place of the old heart of the town that had been located in the immediate vicinity of the promontory, on which, perhaps, the oldest local church was built.