Museum of the Month
Soviet Military Museum, Chisinău, Moldova
The former Soviet Republic of Moldova has been independent since 1991, although tensions between pro-Romanians and the former Soviet region of Transnistria erupted into civil war in 1992. An uneasy truce remains with Transnistria which is now a self-proclaimed republic, unrecognised by any other countries except North Korea, and still occupied by the Russian 14th Army.
Moldova’s capital, Chisinău, is a small, clean, green and hospitable city with some interesting buildings and monuments, including a huge war memorial in the form of an open-air park with an enormous Victory Memorial consisting of red stone rifles with an Eternal Flame in the centre. Surrounding the park are five large Soviet relief sculptures depicting different years of the war. In the centre of Chisinău there is a small Soviet military museum with a free open-air military exhibition (relocated from the memorial park) displaying Soviet-made tanks, fighter planes and other military vehicles inherited by Moldova’s armed forces.
Hardware on display includes a fighter jet, T-34 tank and various armoured cars.
The museum inside costs 10 Moldovan Lei (50p) and is situated over thre…
