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Chişinău

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Sunny afternon spent in Stefan cel Mare Park in Chisnau.

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Overview

Pretty much all roads in Moldova lead to its wine-and-food loving capital. While the city’s origins date back six centuries to 1420, much of Chişinău was levelled in WWII and a tragic earthquake that struck in 1940. The Soviets rebuilt it into what you see today: grandiose Stalinist architecture mixed with gloriously brutal modernism from the later Soviet period and a smattering of pre-WWII edifices.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

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    Nativity of Christ Metropolitan Cathedral

    Chişinău

    The main highlight of the Parcul Catedralei is the city's main Moldovan Orthodox church, dating from the 1830s, with rich interior frescoes. The bell…

  • National Museum of Ethnography & Natural History

    National Museum of Ethnography & Natural History

    Chişinău

    The highlight of this massive and wonderful exhibition is a life-sized reconstruction of the skeleton of a dinothere – an 8-tonne elephant-like mammal…

  • Army Museum

    Army Museum

    Chişinău

    Occupying one end of the Centre of Culture and Military History, this once-musty museum now hosts a moving exhibit on Soviet-era repression. Stories of…

  • Pushkin Museum

    Pushkin Museum

    Chişinău

    This is where Russia's national poet Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) spent three years exiled between 1820 and 1823. You can view his tiny cottage, filled…

  • National Archaeology & History Museum

    National Archaeology & History Museum

    Chişinău

    This impressive museum contains artefacts from the region of Orheiul Vechi, including Golden Horde coins and 14th-century ceramics; a rare, 2000-year-old…

  • Parcul Catedralei

    Parcul Catedralei

    Chişinău

    Dab in the middle of Chişinău, this park is popular with families and canoodling teenagers on benches, and makes for great strolling. The highlight is the…

  • National Art Museum

    National Art Museum

    Chişinău

    A massive facelift was half-finished at the end of 2018, with the gorgeously restored main wing open to visitors. The focus is on contemporary Moldovan…

  • National Library

    National Library

    Chişinău

    A landmark, the neoclassical National Library is worth popping into both to check out the beautiful interior with its spiral staircases, and for the free…

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