The architecture of interwar Chişinău

In the interwar period Chişinău was the second Romanian city in size and importance. The municipal authorities carried out some series of urban development works, technical modernization extended to the transport structure and communications. The urban planning documentation was elaborated. At that time, several buildings of remarkable architecture were designed, some of which were not fully completed due to the world economic crisis of the 1930s (the Palace of Culture of the Union, today’s National Theater “Mihai Eminescu”; the National Theater, today’s cinema “Patria”; the Officers’ Club, today’s “Mobiasbanca”). Among the new buildings that appeared in Chişinău were the boarding school for the children of the railway workers, the building near the Metropolitan complex, the casino, etc. There were built several personal villas and wealthy houses in the city. The elements of modernist architecture could be combined with those of neoclassical architecture, with those of “neo-Romanian”architecture or with details from the Art Nouveau repertoire. The architects Nicolae Mertz, Gheorghe Cujbă, Gheorghe Cupcea, Nicolae Ţâganco, Eugen Bernardazzi, Ecaterina Ocuşco-Alhazova, V. Ulinici, Rudi and others contributed to the image of interwar Chişinău.