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Posted by: Bogdan Nigai
News / Culture
29 Sep. 2021 / 19:48
History of Moldovan railways, exhibited in photographs at the History Museum of Chisinau
A foray into the history of Moldovan railways is the photo exhibition inaugurated at the History Museum of Chisinau. The event takes place in the context of the European Heritage Days and is on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the railways, reports Moldova 1.
"The first railway arrived in Chisinau in 1871. Here, we see the first picture of the railway station, the first station was temporary, it was made of wood but it has not been preserved and here, in 1871, the Austrian architect Ghenrih Lonsky builds this station," says the museographer Liubovi Coşman.
According to one source, the first train arrived at Chisinau station on August 15, 1871. According to others, the train traffic on the route Tiraspol - Chisinau was opened on August 28, 1871. The first train arrived from Odessa (in 7 hours), marking the beginning railway operations in Bessarabia.
The construction of the railway on our lands had military-strategic connotations, says the historian Ion Varta. "The inauguration of the Moldovan railways was occasioned by the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. For the first time, Russian soldiers traveled by train from the places where their divisions were deployed and were brought by train here to the area of the war theater because until then they had to come on foot."
Rare period images bring to attention the visit of King Ferdinand I of Romania to Chisinau in 1918.
"Here, you can see the moment when the whole population of Chisinau came out and when King Ferdinand walked on the platform of the railway station in Chisinau," Liubovi Coşman also mentioned.
"It was one of the most beautiful stations in Europe, it had 3 floors," said the museographer Lilia Coţaga.
The oldest photos were provided by the National Archives Agency of Moldova.
"At the initiative of the Museum, we selected the photo documents regarding the railways. Our photographic documents are kept in 3.5 cm by 2.5 cm film in warehouses. In order to be exhibited, these photos were scanned and processed in digital format to be printed on paper," said the Head of Directorate, National Archives Agency, Parascovia Polişciuc.
During the Second World War, the station was destroyed and rebuilt in 1948, according to the project of architects Ciuprin and Şciusev. In the exhibition, you can watch the construction of the railway on other sections, but also images that highlight the beauty of the Chisinau Railway Station.
The exhibition can be seen at the History Museum of Chisinau until October 30.
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