From the History of the Cahul County Museum Building

Abstract

The Cahul County Museum operates in an administrative building from the 19th century, having a rich historical past and of an undeniable value for the cultural heritage of Cahul, but also for the national material patrimony. The edifice was built between 1852–1857 and had initially, until the earthquake in November 1940, two floors, illustrated in two postcards from the 1920s and 1930s. The building is mentioned in George Sion’s work “Travel Souvenirs in Southern Bessarabia” published in 1857, but also in several documents from the National Archive of the Republic of Moldova: the reports of the Ismail county administrator from October 29, 1887 and September 11, 1897, and the act of evaluation of the building on October 18, 1888. Over time, the two floors host different state institutions: The Prefecture, the County Committee and the Court (during the Romanian administration period, 1857–1878); the City Hall, the Commissariat, the County Committee and the County Prison (after the re-annexation of southern Bessarabia to the Russian Empire, 1878); the Cahul County Court, the boys’ High School “P. Rumeantev” (later called “Ioan Voievod” Boys’ High School), City Hall, Command of Border Guard Troops (in the 20th century); and since 1960 until now it hosts the Cahul County Museum. Also, the building was visited by famous personalities who worked in Cahul or were passing through the Cahul lands, for example: Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Teodor Serbănescu, Dumitru Crăciunescu, King Ferdinand I.

Keywords

• cahul county museum
• cahul municipality
• administrative building
• cultural heritage
• state institutions