I found these picturesque sheet metal fretwork doorway embellishments during my recent visit in Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. They date in my opinion from the mid-1980s, perhaps the early 1990s. They are quite attractive and present a curious vernacular synthesis between the triangular pediment of a classical temple found among the prestigious historicist c19th buildings of the city, and rich ethnographic motifs inspired from the Ukrainian and the Russian ethnography. Another area rich in sheet metal fretwork architectural embellishments is Bucovina, a borderland between Romania and Ukraine, where the local ethnography expounds a large degree of fusion between the civilizations of the Romanian and Slavic communities.
Chisinau (Kishinev), the capital of the Republic of Moldova, is blessed with a fascinating mix of period architecture dating mostly from the second part of c19th and the first half of the c20th, reflecting the evolution of architectural tastes of the Russian Empire, Romania and the Stalinist Soviet Union. The city contains a number of attractive Art Nouveau style edifices, the most spectacular being a recent remodelling of a Fin de Siècle house, which I encountered during my recent Chisinau trip. The edifice is mentioned on the well documented website “Centrul Istoric al Chisinaului“, which is a comprehensive database of architecturally valuable buildings in the historical centre of the Republic of Moldova’s capital. At the entry detailing the house, which was compiled before the start of the remodelling project, is mentioned that the façade used to be Art Nouveau (named “modern” in the terminology of the Moldovan architects), but completely erased of its decoration during the vicious 1990s post-Soviet property boom. It seems that in the intervening time an enlightened proprietor has decided to bring something back from the edifice’s former glory, as the photographs, which I was able to take from the street, amply testify. In my opinion is a tasteful remodelling and it might also be in the spirit of the original decoration that adorned the house, as I believe the owner had access to old plans and photographs from which the contemporary designer could guide him/her/self. It reminds me of another Art Nouveau project from scratches which takes place in Bucharest, which I documented in 2010 on this blog. I believe that this particular instance is a positive development for Chisinau, and the post-Soviet world, in raising the awareness and appreciation about the local architectural heritage that suffered so much during the two world conflagrations of the c20th, the Soviet era or the most devastating for heritage last two decade since the Soviet empire fell.
Surveying Chisinau’s architectural heritage, 26 May 2012 (photo by Diana Mandache)
Some of you already know that last week Diana and I undertook a short trip to Chisinau (Kishinev), the capital of the Republic of Moldova, where we were part of a team that opened there a travelling exhibition organised by the National History Museum of Romania, which commemorates 200 years since most of the territory that today forms this Romanian speaking post-Soviet republic was ceded by the Ottoman Empire, the erstwhile overlord of the south east Europe, to the Russian Empire, thus igniting one of the most conflict generating geopolitical issues in this part of the world. A number of the exhibits (old maps, books, etc.) are from my own collection of such documents, which I gathered in the 1990s and the early 2000s during my doctoral studies, on the historical geography of this region, at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Chisinau nowadays is a large town, with an ethnically mixed population of over three quarters of a million registered residents, making it the second largest city within the Romanian speaking world, a bit as Montreal is for the French world. It contains an ample and fascinating architectural heritage of a special mix, from ethnographic and vernacular Balkan type dwellings, to grandiose edifices typical of the architecture of Russia throughout the c19th and the early c20th, from the Russian Orientalist (Central Asian) current to beautiful Art Nouveau and historicist architecture examples. There are also a number of Neo-Romanian and Art Deco style buildings scattered throughout the town, dating from the inter-war period, when most of what is now the Republic of Moldova, was part of the Kingdom of Romania. In all, the place is a unique meeting point of contrasting architectural traditions.
I tried to use my spare time in Chisinau as efficiently as possible in viewing its extraordinary architectural heritage and photographing as many as possible of its old buildings. The image above shows me immersed in that captivating activity 🙂 Throughout the following weeks and months I plan to post a series of articles detailing some of the most interesting architectural examples that caught my attention.
Valentin Mandache, architectural historian 