1496 MOLDOVA (Chişinău) - National Museum of History of Moldova

Located in the historical center of Chişinău, the National Museum of History of Moldova owns 322,172 items, the diversity of which covers the history of Moldavia over the centuries, from prehistoric times to the present. From the very beginning, it was located in the historical building of the former Chişinău Boys’ Gymnasia No. 1, later the Boy’s Lyceum named after B.P. Hasdeu (in 1945-1963 in the premises there was housed the frontier detachment "Nistru", and in 1963-1977 - the Polytechnic Institute). The earthquake of 1977 caused serious damage, so that the old building was demolished and replaced by a new one, which retained only the exterior of the historical monument, built in eclectic style, and decorative elements of the gymnasia assembly hall, repeated in three domical rooms of the new building.

In the museum yard there is the Capitoline Wolf, the copy of the one in Rome, inspired by the legend of the founding of the Eternal City. During the first decades of the 20th century,  Italy donated to Romania five copies of the Capitoline Wolf, which were instaled in Bucharest (1906), Chişinău (1921), Cluj-Napoca (1921), Târgu Mureş (1924) and Timişoara (1926). In 1940, at the beginning of the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, the copy from Chişinău was destroyed. In 1990, Romania donated a new copy of Capitoline Wolf to Moldova. Soon after 2005 election, the statue was removed for restoration, and was re-unveiled just on December 1, 2009, a few months after July 2009 election, when the Alliance For European Integration pushed the Party of Communists into opposition.

The postcard was issued in 2011, when Chişinău celebrated 575 years of foundation. Initially a monastery village, it remained a small borough until 1812, when the eastern part of Principality of Moldavia was occupied by the Russian Empire and it became the capital of the gubernia of Bessarabia. In a hundred years, the population grew from 7,000 to 121,000 (in the year 1900, 43% of the population was Jewish). Following the October Revolution, Bessarabia declared independence and joined the Kingdom of Romania. In the WWII Chişinău was almost completely destroyed. This destruction began with the Soviet occupation on June 1940, continued with the earthquake occurred on November 1940, then with the assault of the German and Romanian armies in June 1941, and of Red Army on August 1944. After the war, most of Bessarabia became the Moldovan SSR (with Chişinău as its capital), which declared itself an independent state in 1991.

About the stamp
The stamp is part of a series of five definitive stamps depicting the coat of arms of the Republic of Moldova, issued on June 11, 1994.

References
National Museum of History of Moldova - The official website
National Museum of History of Moldova - Wikipedia
Chişinău - Wikipedia

Sender: Mihnea Răducu
Sent from Chişinău (Chişinău / Moldova), on 26.02.2015
Photo: A. Kornienko