NATIVITY CATHEDRAL

The cathedral is the most important monument of religious architecture in Chişinău. Built in 1830-1836 by Abraam Melnikov, the building stands in the centre of the park opposite the National Assembly. In 1817, a first project was presented, but was not confirmed by St. Petersburg. In 1826, Governor General Mikhail Vorontsov reissued a commission and the architect Melnikov spent more than a year designing the project in a neoclassical style. The complex consists of a church separated from its bell tower. The style is sober and monumental. The plan of the building, built of stone and brick, is symmetrical and cross-shaped, with a dome and four Doric porticoes. The interior frescoes were created by the Russian painter Kovcharov in the first half of the 19th century. The bell tower is near the cathedral on four levels and with four neoclassical-style porticoes. On the ground floor, one enters a chapel through a porch flanked by two columns. In Soviet times, on the night of December 22-23, 1962, the bell tower was destroyed and replaced by a fountain. The cathedral became a museum and exhibition hall. In the early 1990s, the cathedral was returned to the Orthodox Church and restoration work was initiated by the first Moldovan president Mircea Snegur. On August 25, 1996, the cathedral was consecrated, a bronze cross was installed on top of it and the bell tower was rebuilt in 1997 according to old photographs.