Chișinău

Chișinău (/ˌkɪʃɪˈnaʊ/ KISH-in-OW, US also /ˌkiːʃiːˈnaʊ/ kee-shee-NOW, Romanian: [kiʃiˈnəw] ; formerly known as Kishinev or Kishinyov) is the capital and largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc, a tributary of the Dniester. According to the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău (which includes the city itself and other nearby communities) was 700,000. Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. Nearly a third of Moldova's population lives in the metro area.

Chișinău
Capital city and municipality
Chișinău City Hall Triumphal Arch and Nativity Cathedral Stephen the Great Monument Chișinău Water Tower City Gates Mihai Eminescu National Theatre Valea Morilor Park
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname(s):  Orașul din piatră albă (lit. 'The city of white stone')
Location of Chișinău in Moldova
Chișinău Chișinău
Coordinates: 47°01′22″N 28°50′07″E
Country	Moldova
First written mention	14 October 1436
Government
• Type	Mayor–council government
• Mayor	Ion Ceban (MAN)
Area
• Capital city and municipality	123 km2 (47 sq mi)
• Metro	571.6 km2 (217.5 sq mi)
Elevation	85 m (279 ft)
Population  (2014 census)
• Capital city and municipality	532,513
• Estimate  (2019)	639,000
• Density	4,329/km2 (11,210/sq mi)
• Urban	702,300
• Rural	77,000
• Metro	779,300
Demonym	chișinăuieni (Romanian)
GDP
• Capital city and municipality	€7.0 billion (2021) (1st)
• Per capita	€11,000 (2021)
Time zone	UTC 02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC 03:00 (EEST)
Postal code	MD-20xx
Area code	373-22
ISO 3166 code	MD-CU
HDI (2022)	0.831 Very high · 1st
Website	chisinau.md
a As the population of the Municipality of Chișinău (which comprises the city of Chișinău and 34 other suburban localities)

Moldova has a history of winemaking dating back to at least 3,000 BCE, and as the capital city, Chișinău hosts the yearly national wine festival every October. Though the city's buildings were badly damaged during the Second World War and earthquakes, there remains a rich architectural heritage, especially in the form of Socialist realism and Brutalist architecture. The city's central railway station boasts a Russian-Imperial architectural style, and maintains direct rail links to Romania. The Swiss-Italian-Russian architect Alexander Bernardazzi designed many of the city's buildings, including the Chișinău City Hall, Church of Saint Theodore, and the Church of Saint Panteleimon. The city hosts the National Museum of Fine Arts, Moldova State University, Brancusi Gallery, the National Museum of History of Moldova with over 236,000 exhibits, and bustling markets in the north of the city, including the house where Alexander Pushkin once resided while in exile from Alexander I of Russia, and which has now been turned into a museum. The city's Nativity Cathedral, located at the centre of the city and constructed in the 1830s, has been described as a "masterpiece" of Neoclassical architecture.

Etymology

The origin of the city's name is unclear. A theory suggests that the name may come from the archaic Romanian word chișla (meaning "spring", "source of water") and nouă ("new"), because it was built around a small spring, at the corner of Pușkin and Albișoara streets.

The other version, formulated by (or attributed to) Ștefan Ciobanu, (occasionally to Iorgu Iordan) Romanian historian and academician, holds that the name was formed the same way as the name of Chișineu (alternative spelt as Chișinău) in Western Romania, near the border with Hungary. Its Hungarian name is Kisjenő, from which the Romanian name originates. Kisjenő comes from kis "small" and the Jenő, one of the seven Hungarian tribes that entered the Carpathian Basin in 896. At least 24 other settlements are named after the Jenő tribe.

A third theory by Kiss Lajos linguist and slavist hold (as possible origin), that the name came from the cuman kešene ("grave", kurgan) and the karachayian "cemetery", and these came from the Persian kāšāne (house) word.[1]

Chișinău is known in Russian as Kishinyov (Кишинёв, pronounced [kʲɪʂɨˈnʲɵf]), while Moldova's Russian-language media call it Kishineu (Кишинэу, pronounced [kʲɪʂɨˈnɛʊ]). It is written Kişinöv in the Latin Gagauz alphabet. It was also written as Chișineu in pre–20th-century Romanian and as Кишинэу in the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, the English-language name for the city, Kishinev, was based on the modified Russian one because it entered the English language via Russian at the time Chișinău was part of the Russian Empire (e.g. Kishinev pogrom). Therefore, it remains a common English name in some historical contexts. Otherwise, the Romanian-based Chișinău has been steadily gaining wider currency, especially in written language. The city is also historically referred to as Lithuanian: Kišiniovas, Hungarian: Kisjenő, German: Kischinau, (German: [ˌkɪʃiˈnaʊ̯] ); Polish: Kiszyniów, (Polish: [kʲiˈʂɨɲuf] ); Ukrainian: Кишинів, romanized: Kyshyniv, (Ukrainian: [ˈkɪʃɪnʲiv] ); Bulgarian: Кишинев, romanized: Kishinev; Yiddish: קעשענעװ, romanized: Keshenev; or Turkish: Kişinev

History

Main articles: History of Chișinău and Timeline of Chișinău

Historical affiliations

First Bulgarian Empire 681–968
Kievan Rus 969–971
Mongol Empire 1241–1263
Golden Horde 1241–1327
Kingdom of Hungary 1328–1359
Principality of Moldavia 1328–1386, 1436–1812
Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1387–1502
Ottoman Empire 1503–1806
Russian Empire 1812–1917
Russian Republic 1917
Moldavian Democratic Republic 1917–1918
Kingdom of Romania 1918–1940
Soviet Union 1940–1941
Kingdom of Romania 1941–1944
Soviet Union 1944–1991
Moldova 1991–present

Moldavian period

Founded in 1436 as a monastery village, the city was part of the Principality of Moldavia (which, starting with the 16th century became a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but still retaining its autonomy). At the beginning of the 19th century Chișinău was a small town of 7,000 inhabitants.

Russian Imperial period

Chișinău, 1889

In 1812, in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812), the eastern half of Moldavia was ceded by the Ottomans to the Russian Empire. The newly acquired territories became known as Bessarabia.

Under Russian government, Chișinău became the capital of the newly annexed oblast (later guberniya) of Bessarabia. By 1834, an imperial townscape with broad and long roads had emerged as a result of a generous development plan, which divided Chișinău roughly into two areas: the old part of the town, with its irregular building structures, and a newer city centre and station. Between 26 May 1830 and 13 October 1836 the architect Avraam Melnikov established the Catedrala Nașterea Domnului with a magnificent bell tower. In 1840 the building of the Triumphal Arch, planned by the architect Luca Zaushkevich, was completed. Following this the construction of numerous buildings and landmarks began.

On 28 August 1871, Chișinău was linked by rail with Tiraspol, and in 1873 with Cornești. Chișinău-Ungheni-Iași railway was opened on 1 June 1875 in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). The town played an important part in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, as the main staging area of the Russian invasion. During the Belle Époque, the mayor of the city was Carol Schmidt, whose contribution to the modernisation of the city is still commemorated by Moldovans. Its population had grown to 92,000 by 1862, and to 125,787 by 1900.

Pogroms and pre-revolution

Main article: Kishinev pogrom

In the late 19th century, especially due to growing anti-Semitic sentiment in the Russian Empire and better economic conditions in Moldova, many Jews chose to settle in Chișinău. By the year 1897, 46% of the population of Chișinău was Jewish, over 50,000 people.

As part of the pogrom wave organized in the Russian Empire, a large anti-Semitic riot was organized in the town on 19–20 April 1903, which would later be known as the Kishinev pogrom. The rioting continued for three days, resulting in 47 Jews dead, 92 severely wounded, and 500 suffering minor injuries. In addition, several hundred houses and many businesses were plundered and destroyed. Some sources say 49 people were killed. The pogroms are largely believed to have been incited by anti-Jewish propaganda in the only official newspaper of the time, Bessarabetz (Бессарабецъ). Mayor Schmidt disapproved of the incident and resigned later in 1903. The reactions to this incident included a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia on behalf of the American people by US President Theodore Roosevelt in July 1903.

On 22 August 1905, another violent event occurred: the police opened fire on an estimated 3,000 demonstrating agricultural workers. Only a few months later, on 19–20 October 1905, a further protest occurred, helping to force the hand of Nicholas II in bringing about the October Manifesto. However, these demonstrations suddenly turned into another anti-Jewish pogrom, resulting in 19 deaths.

Romanian period

Stephen the Great monument

Following the Russian October Revolution, Bessarabia declared independence from the crumbling empire, as the Moldavian Democratic Republic, before joining the Kingdom of Romania. As of 1919, Chișinău, with an estimated population of 133,000, became the second largest city in Romania.

Between 1918 and 1940, the center of the city undertook large renovation work. Romania granted important subsidies to its province and initiated large scale investment programs in the infrastructure of the main cities in Bessarabia, expanded the railroad infrastructure and started an extensive program to eradicate illiteracy.

In 1927, the Stephen the Great Monument, by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală, was erected. In 1933, the first higher education institution in Bessarabia was established, by transferring the Agricultural Sciences Section of the University of Iași to Chișinău, as the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences.

World War II

Eternity – a memorial complex dedicated to the soldiers who fell in World War II and the military conflict in Transnistria

Train of Pain – the monument to the victims of communist mass deportations in Moldova

State Art Museum, during the Cold War period

Prospectul Păcii in 1980

On 28 June 1940, as a direct result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union from Romania, and Chișinău became the capital of the newly created Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Following the Soviet occupation, mass deportations, linked with atrocities, were executed by the NKVD between June 1940 and June 1941. More than 400 people were summarily executed in Chișinău in July 1940 and buried in the grounds of the Metropolitan Palace, the Chișinău Theological Institute, and the backyard of the Italian Consulate, where the NKVD had established its headquarters. As part of the policy of political repression of the potential opposition to the Communist power, tens of thousand members of native families were deported from Bessarabia to other regions of the USSR.

A devastating earthquake occurred on 10 November 1940, measuring 7.4 (or 7.7, according to other sources) on the Richter scale. The epicenter of the quake was in the Vrancea Mountains, and it led to substantial destruction: 78 deaths and 2,795 damaged buildings (of which 172 were destroyed).

In June 1941, in order to recover Bessarabia, Romania entered World War II under the command of the German Wehrmacht, declaring war on the Soviet Union. Chișinău was severely affected in the chaos of the Second World War. In June and July 1941, the city came under bombardment by Nazi air raids. However, the Romanian and newly Moldovan sources assign most of the responsibility for the damage to Soviet NKVD destruction battalions, which operated in Chișinău until 17 July 1941, when it was captured by Axis forces.

During the German and Romanian military administration, the city suffered from the Nazi extermination policy of its Jewish inhabitants, who were transported on trucks to the outskirts of the city and then summarily shot in partially dug pits. The number of Jews murdered during the initial occupation of the city is estimated at 10,000 people. During this time, Chișinău, part of Lăpușna County, was the capital of the newly established Bessarabia Governorate of Romania.

As the war drew to a conclusion, the city was once again the scene of heavy fighting as German and Romanian troops retreated. Chișinău was captured by the Red Army on 24 August 1944 as a result of the Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive.

Soviet period

After the war, Bessarabia was fully reintegrated into the Soviet Union, with around 65 percent of its territory as the Moldavian SSR, while the remaining 35 percent was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR.

Two other waves of deportations of Moldova's native population were carried out by the Soviets, the first one immediately after the Soviet reoccupation of Bessarabia until the end of the 1940s and the second one in the mid-1950s.

Trams in Chișinău (pictured Gothawagen ET54) were discontinued in 1961.

In the years 1947 to 1949, the architect Alexey Shchusev developed a plan with the aid of a team of architects for the gradual reconstruction of the city.

There was rapid population growth in the 1950s, to which the Soviet administration responded by constructing large-scale housing and palaces in the style of Stalinist architecture. This process continued under Nikita Khrushchev, who called for construction under the slogan "good, cheaper, and built faster." The new architectural style brought about dramatic change and generated the style that dominates today, with large blocks of flats arranged in considerable settlements. These Khrushchev-era buildings are often informally called Khrushchyovka.

The period of the most significant redevelopment of the city began in 1971, when the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union adopted a decision "On the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev," which secured more than one billion rubles in investment from the state budget, and continued until the independence of Moldova in 1991. The share of dwellings built during the Soviet period (1951–1990) represents 74.3 percent of total households.

On 4 March 1977, the city was again jolted by a devastating earthquake. Several people were killed, and panic broke out. The Intourist Hotel, a flagship property constructed by the Soviet state-owned travel monopoly of the same name, was completed in 1978.

On 22 April 1993, the city inaugurated the Monument to the Victims of Jewish Ghettos, a public monument centring on a bronze statue of the Biblical prophet Moses, which serves as a symbol of remembrance to the thousands of Jews who perished during the holocaust. The monument was designed by architect Simeon Shoihet and sculptor Naum Epelbaum. It stands on Ierusalim Street, marking the site of the main entrance to the Chișinău ghetto, which was established in the lower part of the city in July 1941, shortly after the German and Romanian troops occupied the area.

After independence

Since Moldovan independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many streets of Chișinău have been renamed after historic persons, places or events. Independence from the Soviet Union was followed by a large-scale renaming of streets and localities from a Communist theme into a national one.

On 5 September 2022, the country's first Christian university Universitatea Moldo-Americană opened its doors, supported by the Scandinavian broadcaster Visjon Norge and several donors in Norway, and run in cooperation with the American Southeastern University in Florida, United States.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moldova allowed more than 600,000 Ukrainian civilians to flee Ukraine across their border. Despite being among the poorest states in Europe, Moldova has continued to host more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of them in Chișinău.

On 23 November 2022, the Chișinău Court of Appeal ruled that Chișinău International Airport will return to state ownership, according to justice minister Sergiu Litvinenco, more than three months after an international court allowed Moldova to terminate a 49-year concession deal with airport operator Avia Invest. In April 2023, the Dutch government opened a new embassy in Chișinău.

On 21 May 2023, tens of thousands of Moldovans took to the streets in a massive rally, the European Moldova National Assembly, to support the country's European Union membership bid. Moldovan police said more than 75,000 demonstrators were present at the rally organised by Moldovan president Maia Sandu.

Later that month, Chișinău hosted a major international summit of the European Political Community organised to discuss the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as cybersecurity, migration and energy security, and regional issues in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and clashes in Kosovo.

Geography

"Museum of the village" (Muzeul satului), located on the southern outskirts of the city

Chișinău is located on the river Bâc, a tributary of the Dniester, at 47°0′N 28°55′E, with an area of 120 km² (46 sq mi). The municipality comprises 635 km² (245 sq mi).

The city lies in central Moldova and is surrounded by a relatively level landscape with very fertile ground.

Chișinău is roughly equidistant between the borders with Romania (58 km.) and Ukraine (54 km.), and between the northernmost (188 km.) and southernmost (179 km.) points of Moldova, thus meaning that it is very close to Moldova's geographic centre.

Climate

Botanical garden

Chișinău has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) characterised by warm summers and cold, windy winters. Winter minimum temperatures are often below 0 °C (32 °F), although they rarely drop below −10 °C (14 °F). In summer, the average maximum temperature is approximately 25 °C (77 °F), however, temperatures occasionally reach 35 to 40 °C (95 to 104 °F) in mid-summer in downtown. Although average humidity during summer is relatively low, most of the annual precipitation occurs during summer, causing infrequent yet heavy storms.

Spring and autumn temperatures vary between 16 and 24 °C (61 and 75 °F), and precipitation during this time tends to be lower than in summer but with more frequent yet milder periods of rain.

Bird's eye view of the Central park

Climate data for Chișinău (1991–2020, extremes 1886–present)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	16.6 (61.9)	20.7 (69.3)	25.7 (78.3)	31.6 (88.9)	35.9 (96.6)	37.5 (99.5)	39.4 (102.9)	39.2 (102.6)	37.3 (99.1)	32.6 (90.7)	23.8 (74.8)	18.3 (64.9)	39.4 (102.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	1.1 (34.0)	3.4 (38.1)	9.2 (48.6)	16.4 (61.5)	22.3 (72.1)	26.1 (79.0)	28.4 (83.1)	28.3 (82.9)	22.3 (72.1)	15.5 (59.9)	8.1 (46.6)	2.7 (36.9)	15.3 (59.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−1.8 (28.8)	−0.2 (31.6)	4.5 (40.1)	11.0 (51.8)	16.8 (62.2)	20.7 (69.3)	22.9 (73.2)	22.6 (72.7)	17.0 (62.6)	10.8 (51.4)	4.8 (40.6)	−0.2 (31.6)	10.7 (51.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−4.2 (24.4)	−3.0 (26.6)	0.7 (33.3)	6.3 (43.3)	11.8 (53.2)	15.9 (60.6)	17.9 (64.2)	17.5 (63.5)	12.5 (54.5)	7.1 (44.8)	2.1 (35.8)	−2.5 (27.5)	6.8 (44.2)
Record low °C (°F)	−28.4 (−19.1)	−28.9 (−20.0)	−21.1 (−6.0)	−6.6 (20.1)	−1.1 (30.0)	3.6 (38.5)	7.8 (46.0)	5.5 (41.9)	−2.4 (27.7)	−10.8 (12.6)	−21.6 (−6.9)	−22.4 (−8.3)	−28.9 (−20.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	36 (1.4)	31 (1.2)	35 (1.4)	39 (1.5)	54 (2.1)	65 (2.6)	67 (2.6)	49 (1.9)	48 (1.9)	47 (1.9)	43 (1.7)	41 (1.6)	555 (21.8)
Average extreme snow depth cm (inches)	7 (2.8)	6 (2.4)	3 (1.2)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (0.4)	3 (1.2)	7 (2.8)
Average rainy days	8	7	11	13	14	14	12	10	10	11	12	10	132
Average snowy days	13	13	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	11	51
Average relative humidity (%)	82	78	71	63	60	63	62	60	66	73	81	83	70
Mean monthly sunshine hours	70	96	155	210	283	301	326	308	220	162	81	65	2,277
Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net
Source 2: NOAA (sun, 1991–2020)

Law and government

Chișinău City Hall

Municipality

Moldova is administratively subdivided into 3 municipalities, 32 districts, and 2 autonomous units. With a population of 662,836 inhabitants (as of 2014), the Municipality of Chișinău (which includes the nearby communities) is the largest of these municipalities.

Besides the city itself, the municipality comprises 34 other suburban localities: 6 towns (containing further 2 villages within), and 12 communes (containing further 14 villages within). The population, as of the 2014 Moldovan census, is shown in brackets:

Cities/towns

• Chișinău (532,513)
• Codru (15,934)
• Cricova (10,669)
• Durlești (17,210)
• Sîngera (9,966)
  • Dobrogea
  • Revaca
• Vadul lui Vodă (5,295)
• Vatra (3,457)

Communes

• Băcioi (10,175)
  • Brăila
  • Frumușica
  • Străisteni
• Bubuieci (8,047)
  • Bîc
  • Humulești
• Budești (4,928)
  • Văduleni
• Ciorescu (5,961)
  • Făurești
  • Goian
• Colonița (3,367)
• Condrița (595)
• Cruzești (1,815)
  • Ceroborta
• Ghidighici (5,051)
• Grătiești (6,183)
  • Hulboaca
• Stăuceni (8,694)
  • Goianul Nou
• Tohatin (2,596)
  • Buneți
  • Cheltuitori
• Trușeni (10,380)
  • Dumbrava

Administration

Administrative sectors of Chișinău: 1-Centru, 2-Buiucani, 3-Râșcani, 4-Botanica, 5-Ciocana

Chișinău is governed by the City Council and the Mayor (Romanian: Primar), both elected once every four years.

Local government

The municipality in its totality elects a mayor and a local council, which then name five pretors, one for each sector. They deal more locally with administrative matters. Each sector claims a part of the city and several suburbs:

Centru

• Codru

Buiucani

• Durlești
• Vatra
• Condrița
• Ghidighici
• Trușeni
  • Dumbrava

Râșcani

• Cricova
• Ciorescu
  • Făurești
  • Goian
• Grătiești
  • Hulboaca
• Stăuceni
  • Goianul Nou

Botanica

• Sîngera
  • Dobrogea
  • Revaca
• Băcioi
  • Brăila
  • Frumușica
  • Străisteni

Ciocana

• Vadul lui Vodă
• Bubuieci
  • Bîc
  • Humulești
• Budești,
  • Văduleni
• Colonița
• Cruzești
  • Ceroborta
• Tohatin
  • Buneți
  • Cheltuitori

Economy

MallDova shopping centre

Historically, the city was home to fourteen factories in 1919. Chișinău is the financial and business capital of Moldova. Its GDP comprises about 60% of the national economy reached in 2012 the amount of 52 billion lei (US$4 billion). Thus, the GDP per capita of Chișinău stood at 227% of the Moldova's average. Chișinău has the largest and most developed mass media sector in Moldova, and is home to several related companies ranging from leading television networks and radio stations to major newspapers. All national and international banks (15) have their headquarters located in Chișinău.

Notable sites around Chișinău include Cineplex Loteanu, the new malls MallDova, Port Mall and best-known retailers, such as N1, Linella, Kaufland, Fourchette and Metro. While many locals continue to shop at the bazaars, many upper class residents and tourists shop at the retail stores and at MallDova. Jumbo, an older mall in the Botanica district, and Sun City, in the centre, are more popular with locals.

Several amusement parks exist around the city. A Soviet-era one is located in the Botanica district, along the three lakes of a major park, which reaches the outskirts of the city centre. Another, the modern Aventura Park, is located farther from the centre. The Chișinău State Circus, which used to be in a grand building in the Râșcani sector, has been inactive for several years due to a poorly funded renovation project.

Demographics

City of Chișinău

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1812 7,000 —     1818 10,966 7.77% 1835 34,079 6.90% 1847 43,965 2.15% 1851 58,849 7.56% 1865 94,047 3.41%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1897(c) 108,483 0.45% 1912 121,000 0.73% 1930(c) 114,896 −0.29% 1950 134,000 0.77% 1963 253,500 5.03% 1980 519,200 4.31%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1991 676,700 2.44% 2004(c) 589,446 −1.06% 2014(c) 532,513 −1.01% 2017(e) 685,900 8.80% 2019(e) 639,000 −3.48%
c-census; e-estimate

Chișinău population pyramid in 2021

Municipality of Chișinău

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1959(c) 258,910 —     1970(c) 415,956 4.40% 1979(c) 589,140 3.94% 1989(c) 770,948 2.73%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 2004(c) 712,218 −0.53% 2014(c) 662,836 −0.72% 2017(e) 820,500 7.37% 2019(e) 779,300 −2.54%
c-census; e-estimate; Source:

According to the results of the 2014 Moldovan census, conducted in May 2014, 532,513 inhabitants live within the Chișinău city limits. This represents a 9.7% drop in the number of residents compared to the results of the 2004 census.

Natural statistics (2015):

• Births: 6,845 (9.8 per 1,000)
• Deaths: 6,433 (7.7 per 1,000)
• Net Growth rate: 412 (2.1 per 1,000)

Population by sector:

Sector	Population (2004 cen.)	Population (2019 est.)
Botanica	156,633	170,600
Buiucani	107,744	110,100
Centru	90,494	96,200
Ciocana	101,834	115,900
Râșcani	132,740	146,200

Ethnic composition

Population of Chișinău according to ethnic group (Censuses 1930–2014)

Ethnic group	19301		19412		19593		19704		19895		20046		20147
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Moldovans *	48,456	42.17	43,024	81.24	69,722	32.38	137,942	37.90	366,468	51.26	481,626	68.94	304,860	67.18
Romanians *					331	0.15	513	0.14	–		31,984	4.58	65,605	14.46
Russians	19,631	17.09	5,915	11.17	69,600	32.22	110,449	30.35	181,002	25.32	99,149	14.19	42,174	9.29
Ukrainians	563	0.49	1,745	3.29	25,930	12.00	51,103	14.04	98,190	13.73	58,945	8.44	26,991	5.95
Bulgarians	541	0.47	183	0.35	1,811	0.84	3,855	1.06	9,224	1.29	8,868	1.27	4,850	1.07
Gagauz	–		17	0.03	1,476	0.68	2,666	0.73	6,155	0.86	6,446	0.92	3,108	0.68
Others	45,705	39.78	2,078	3.92	45,626	21.12	54,688	15.03	47,525	6.65	11,605	1.66	6,210	1.37
Total	114,896		52,962		216,005		363,940		714,928		712,218		469,402
* Since the independence of Moldova, there is an ongoing controversy over whether Moldovans and Romanians are the same ethnic group. ** These percentages are for the 469,402 reviewed citizens in the 2014 census that answered the ethnicity question. An additional estimated 193,434 inhabitants of the Municipality of Chișinău weren't reviewed.
1Source:[2]. 2Source:[3] Archived 1 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. 3Source:[4]. 4Source:[5]. 5Source:[6]. 6Source:[7]. 7Source:[8].

Languages

Languages usually spoken in Chișinău (Censuses 1989–2014)

First language	19891		20042		20143
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Romanian*	–		258,910	37.06	197,101	43.78
Moldovan*	117,527	17.34	199,547	28.56	133,027	29.55
Russian	482,436	71.20	234,037	33.50	115,434	25.64
Other languages	77,627	11.46	6,106	0.87	4,635	1.03
Total	714,928		712,218		469,402
* The Moldovan language represents the glottonym (dialect) given to the Romanian language in the Republic of Moldova.
1Sursă:[9]. 2Sursă:[10]. 3Sursă:[11].

Religion

Chișinău is the seat of the Moldovan Orthodox Church, as well as of the Metropolis of Bessarabia. The city has multiple churches and synagogues.

• Christians – 90.0%
  • Orthodox Christians – 88.4%
  • Protestant – 1.2%
    • Baptists – 0.6%
    • Evangelicals – 0.4%
    • Pentecostals – 0.2%
    • Seventh-day Adventists – 0.1%
  • Roman Catholics – 0.4%
• Other – 1.0%
• No religion – 1.4%
• Atheists – 1.5%
• Undeclared – 6.1%

Cityscape

Panorama of Chișinău at night

Architecture

Soviet-style apartment buildings in Chișinău

Romashka Tower, the tallest building in Moldova

See also: Wooden church of Hirișeni

Chișinău's growth plan was developed in the 19th century. In 1836 the construction of the Kishinev Cathedral and its belfry was finished. The belfry was demolished in Soviet times and was rebuilt in 1997. Chișinău also displays a tremendous number of Orthodox churches and 19th-century buildings around the city such as Ciuflea Monastery or the Transfiguration Church. Much of the city is made from limestone quarried from Cricova, leaving a famous wine cellar there.

Many modern-style buildings have been built in the city since 1991. There are many office and shopping complexes that are modern, renovated or newly built, including Kentford, SkyTower, and Unión Fenosa headquarters. However, the old Soviet-style clusters of living blocks are still an extensive feature of the cityscape.

Culture and education

See also: List of public schools in Chișinău and List of universities in Moldova

Education

The city is home to 9 public and 8 private universities, the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, a number of institutions offering high school and 1–2 years of college education. Among them are Moldova State University, the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, Alexandru cel Bun Military Academy, Nicolae Testemițanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University.

On 5 September 2022, the country's first Christian university Universitatea Moldo-Americană opened its doors, supported by the Scandinavian broadcaster Visjon Norge and several donors in Norway, and run in cooperation with the American Southeastern University in Florida, United States.

In Chișinău there are several museums. The three national museums are the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Museum of History of Moldova. The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History was founded in October 1889 by baron Alexandru Stuart, moved to its current location in 1905, and is the oldest museum in Moldova. It houses more than 135,000 exhibit pieces, among them a life-sized reconstruction of the skeleton of a dinothere, discovered in the Rezine region in 1966. It also includes exhibits on natural history, natural sciences, archaeology, paleontology, geology, and ethnography. The building was designed by the architect Vladimir Tsyganko in a distinctive Moorish architectural style with a signature frontal façade consisting of a triangular pediment supported by two Doric columns.

The National Library of Moldova is also located in Chișinău.

• 
  Triumphal Arch
• 
  Capitoline Wolf and National History Museum
• 
  Waterfall Steps at the Mill Valley Park
• 
  Ștefan cel Mare Central Park
• 
  Organ Hall
• 
  Maria Bieșu National Opera and Ballet Theatre

Events and festivals

Chișinău, as well as Moldova as a whole, still show signs of ethnic culture. Signs that say "Patria Mea" (English: My homeland) can be found all over the capital. While few people still wear traditional Moldavian attire, large public events often draw in such original costumes.

Moldova National Wine Day and Wine Festival take place every year in the first weekend of October, in Chișinău. The events celebrate the autumn harvest and recognises the country's long history of winemaking, which dates back to at least 3,000 BCE. Moldova has been called the wine capital of Europe and its yearly festival is a major cultural and tourist event, and every year the streets are filled with people enjoying food, wine, dance, and music taking over the streets. Moldova's most-awarded sommelier Mihai Druta has described Moldovan wine as being about "small producers and family wineries making premium wine. And nothing costs more than 100 Euro a bottle." The Daily Express in 2019 described the city as "Europe's latest hotspot" in which journalist Maisha Frost praised "its wines, monumental wineries and their epic tasting sessions." She described the city's Carpe Diem wine bar as "the flagship for a flourishing new breed of craft-style makers."

Media

The majority of Moldova's media industry is based in Chișinău. There are almost 30 FM-radio stations and 10 TV-channels broadcasting in Chișinău. The first radio station in Chișinău, Radio Basarabia, was launched by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company on 8 October 1939, when the religious service was broadcast on air from the Nativity Cathedral. The first TV station in the city, Moldova 1, was launched on 30 April 1958, while Nicolae Lupan was serving as the redactor-in-chief of TeleRadio-Moldova.

The state national broadcaster in the country is the state-owned Moldova 1, which has its head office in the city. The broadcasts of TeleradioMoldova have been criticised by the Independent Journalism Center as showing 'bias' towards the authorities.

Other TV channels based in Chișinău are Pro TV Chișinău, PRIME, Jurnal TV, Publika TV, CTC, DTV, Euro TV, TV8, etc. In addition to television, most Moldovan radio and newspaper companies have their headquarters in the city. Broadcasters include the national radio Vocea Basarabiei, Prime FM, BBC Moldova, Radio Europa Libera, Kiss FM Chișinău, Pro FM Chișinău, Radio 21, Fresh FM, Radio Nova, Russkoye Radio, Hit FM Moldova, and many others.

The biggest broadcasters are SunTV, StarNet (IPTV), Moldtelecom (IPTV), Satellit and Zebra TV. In 2007 SunTV and Zebra launched digital TV cable networks.

Further information on the defunct newspaper founded in 1933: Mișcarea femenistă

Politics

Presidential Palace in Chișinău

Elections

See also: 2023 Moldovan local elections

Transport

Chișinău Railway Station, exterior

Trolleybus on the street

Airport

Chișinău International Airport offers connections to major destinations in Europe and Asia.

FlyOne and HiSky airlines have their headquarters, and Wizz-Air has its hub on the grounds of Chișinău International Airport.

Road

The most popular form of internal transport in Moldova is generally the bus. Although the city has just three main terminals, buses generally serve as the means of transport between cities in and outside of Moldova. Popular destinations include Tiraspol, Odesa (Ukraine), Iași and Bucharest (Romania).

Rail

The second most popular form of domestic transportation within Moldova is via railways. The total length of the network managed by Moldovan Railway (as of 2009) is 1,232 kilometres (766 miles). The entire network is single track and is not electrified. The central hub of all railways is Chișinău Central Railway Station. There is another smaller railway station – Revaca located on the city's ends.

Chișinău Railway Station has an international railway terminal with connections to Bucharest, Kyiv, Minsk, Odesa, Moscow, Samara, Varna and St. Petersburg. Due to the simmering conflict between Moldova and the unrecognised Transnistria republic the rail traffic towards Ukraine is occasionally stopped.

Public transport

Trolleybuses

See also: Trolleybuses in Chișinău

There is wide trolleybus network operating as common public transportation within city. From 1994, Chișinău saw the establishment of new trolleybus lines, as well as an increase in capacity of existing lines, to improve connections between the urban districts. The network comprises 22 trolleybus lines being 246 km (153 mi) in length. Trolleybuses run between 05:00 and 03:00. There are 320 units daily operating in Chișinău. However the requirements are as minimum as 600 units. A trolleybus ticket costs 6 lei (ca. $0.31). It is the cheapest method of transport within Chișinău municipality.

Buses

There are 29 lines of buses within Chișinău municipality. At each public transportation stops there is attached a schedule for buses and trolleybuses. There are approximately 330 public transportation stops within Chișinău municipality. There is a big lack of buses inside city limits, with only 115 buses operating within Chișinău.

Minibuses

In Chișinău and its suburbs, privately operated minibuses known as "rutieras" generally follow the major bus and trolleybus routes and appear more frequently.

As of October 2017, there are 1,100 units of minibuses operating within Chișinău. Minibuses services are priced the same as buses – 3 lei for a ticket (ca. $0.18).

Traffic

The city traffic becomes more congested as each year passes. Nowadays there are about 300,000 cars in the city plus 100,000 transit transports coming to the city each day. The number of personal transports is expected to reach 550,000 (without transit) by 2025.

Sport

Zimbru Stadium

Football is the most widely followed sport in Chișinău. Local clubs such as Zimbru and Dacia Buiucani compete in the Moldovan Super Liga (first division), while Real Succes and Victoria Bardar play in the Liga 1 (second division).

Zimbru Stadium, which opened in May 2006 with a seating capacity of 10,500, meets all the requirements for hosting official international matches and serves as the home venue for the Moldova national football team.

Since 2011, CS Femina-Sport Chișinău has organized women's competitions in seven sports.

Arena Chișinău, an indoor arena was opened in 2022.

The FMF Beach Soccer Arena, a beach soccer stadium that opened in 2022, was the main venue for the Socca EuroCup events held in 2023 and 2024.

The city also hosts the annual Chișinău International Marathon.

Notable people

Natives

• Gavril Afanasiu, Bessarabian opera singer, lyric baritone and singing teacher
• Radu Albot, Moldovan professional tennis player
• Doina Aldea-Teodorovici, Moldovan-Romanian singer, part of the iconic musical duo that defined the national awakening of the early 1990s
• Nicolae Alexandri, Bessarabian-Romanian politician, editor-in-chief of Cuvânt Moldovenesc
• Olga Bancic, Jewish-Romanian communist activist, known for her role in the French Resistance
• Regina Barzilay, Israeli-American computer scientist and professor at MIT
• Savatie Baștovoi, Moldovan Orthodox monk, novelist, essayist, poet, painter, and theologian
• Dan Bălan, Moldovan musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, founder of the popular Eurodance band O-Zone
• Alexandru Boldur, Bessarabian-Romanian historian, lawyer, and archeologist
• Marcel Bostan, Moldovan singer and leader of the alternative rock band Alternosfera
• Samuel Bronston, American film producer and media executive (and Leon Trotsky's nephew)
• Elena Cataraga (Lena Scissorhands), Moldovan heavy metal singer and songwriter
• Petru Cazacu, medical doctor, historian, publicist, and Prime Minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic
• Maria Cebotari, Romanian soprano and actress, one of Europe's greatest opera stars in the 1930s and 1940s
• Toma Ciorbă, Romanian physician and hospital director
• Claudia Cobizev, Moldovan sculptor
• Miron Constantinescu, Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, and journalist, leading member of the Romanian Communist Party
• Alexandru Cristea, priest, choir conductor, music teacher, composer of the music for the national anthem of Moldova
• Ion Cuțelaba, Moldovan light heavyweight UFC fighter
• Nicolae Donici, Romanian astronomer
• Boris Epure, Bessarabian-Romanian politician, member of Sfatul Țării
• William F. Friedman, American cryptologist
• Alexander Frumkin, Soviet electrochemist
• Dennis Gaitsgory, Israeli-American mathematician at MPIM
• Anton Gămurari, Moldovan general, veteran of the Transnistrian War
• Anastasia Golovina, the first Bulgarian female doctor
• Sarah Gorby, French-Jewish singer
• Paul Gore, Romanian politician and historian, honorary member of the Romanian Academy
• Vladimir Herța, mayor of Chișinău in the wake of the Great Union
• Laura Hidalgo, Argentine actress
• Anatole Jakovsky, French art critic
• Boris Katz, American computer scientist at MIT
• Nathaniel Kleitman, American physiologist and sleep researcher
• Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist
• Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli politician
• Grigory Lvovsky, composer
• Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and Olympic medalist
• Viorica Marian, Moldovan-born American psycholinguist, cognitive scientist, and professor of psychology at Northwestern University
• George Meniuc, Moldovan writer
• Lewis Milestone, American film director, two-time Academy Award winner
• Constantin Mimi, Bessarabian politician and winemaker
• Sacha Moldovan, American expressionist and post-impressionist painter
• Oleg Mutu, Romanian cinematographer and film producer
• Tatiana Nicolescu, Romanian historian of literature and translator
• Ilya Oleynikov, Russian comic actor and television personality
• Rusanda Panfili, Moldovan-Romanian violinist and composer
• Nina Pekerman, Israeli triathlete
• Lev Pisarzhevsky, Soviet chemist
• Alexandru Plămădeală, Moldovan sculptor, creator of the Stephen the Great Monument
• Radu Poklitaru, Moldovan-born Ukrainian choreographer-director
• Nicu Popescu, Moldovan author and diplomat
• Vitaliy Pushkar, Ukrainian rally driver
• Andrew Rayel, stage name of Andrei Rață, a Moldovan producer and DJ
• Alecu Russo, Bessarabian-Romanian writer, literary critic and publicist
• Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu, Moldovan painter and stage designer
• Glebus Sainciuc, Moldovan artist, portraitist and author of masks
• Lică Sainciuc, Moldovan artist, writer and architect
• Andrei Sârbu, Moldovan painter
• Alexander Schmidt, Bessarabian German politician, economist, lawyer and academic, the last Tsarist mayor of Chișinău
• Alexey Shchusev, Russian and Soviet architect
• Yulia Sister, Israeli analytical chemist and science historian
• Serghei Spivac, Moldovan heavyweight UFC fighter
• Cleopatra Stratan, Moldovan-Romanian singer, the youngest artist to score a No. 1 hit in a country
• Mihai Timofti, Moldovan theatre and film director, actor, multi-instrumentalist musician, professor, screenwriter, writer and composer
• Tatiana Țîbuleac, Moldovan writer
• Alexander Ulanovsky, Soviet resident spy in the United States in the 1930s, prisoner in the Soviet Gulag
• Mihail Vakulovski, Moldovan-Romanian author, poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, blogger and translator
• Maria Winetzkaja, American opera singer in the 1910s-1920s
• Iona Yakir, Red Army commander executed during the Great Purge
• Chaim Yassky, Jewish physician killed in the Hadassah medical convoy massacre
• Sam Zemurray, American businessman who made his fortune in the banana trade

Residents

• Dan Balan, musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
• Gheorghe Botezatu, American engineer, businessman and pioneer of helicopter flight
• Eugen Doga, composer
• Nicolae Testemițanu, physician
• Timofei Moșneaga, physician
• Israel Gohberg, Soviet and Israeli mathematician
• Dovid Knut, poet and member of the French Resistance
• Sigmund Mogulesko, singer, actor, and composer
• Pasha Parfeny, Singer, Musician, songwriter and who represented for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and 2023
• SunStroke Project, Moldovan representative for the Eurovision Song Contests 2010 and 2017
• Zlata Tkach, composer and music educator
• Maria Biesu, operatic soprano

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Moldova

Chișinău is twinned with:

• Alba Iulia, Romania (2011)
• Ankara, Turkey (2004)
• Borlänge, Sweden (2009)
• Bucharest, Romania (1999)
• Chernivtsi, Ukraine (2014)
• Grenoble, France (1977)
• Iași, Romania (2008)
• Kyiv, Ukraine (1999)
• Mannheim, Germany (1989)
• Odesa, Ukraine (1994)
• Reggio Emilia, Italy (1989)
• Sacramento, United States (1990)
• Suceava, Romania (2021)
• Tbilisi, Georgia (2011)
• Tel Aviv, Israel (2000)
• Yerevan, Armenia (2000)

• Kingston Upon Hull, England (1982)

Further reading

• Weiner, Miriam; Ukrainian State Archives (in cooperation with); Moldovan State Archives (in cooperation with) (1999). "Town Clips: Kishinev." Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories . Secaucus, NJ: Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation. p. 364-371. ISBY 978-0-96-565081-6. OCLC 607423469.

• Hamm, Michael F. (March 1998). "Kishinev: The character and development of a Tsarist Frontier Town". Nationalities Papers. 26 (1): 19–37. doi:10.1080/00905999808408548. S2CID 161820811.

External links

• Official website
• Map of Chișinău
• Chișinău, Moldova at JewishGen
• Chisinau online camera
• Kishinev/Chisinau (pp. 364–371) at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots Foundation