Historical Chisinau 'on verge of extinction'

“Historical Chisinau is on the verge of extinction”, stated PPCD municipal councilor Alexandru Corduneanu at press conference on Tuesday, March 22. He sent an open letter to Prime Minister Vlad Filat on the issue of historical Chisinau’s destruction, Info-Prim Neo reports. The municipal councilor said this step was caused by local and central authorities’ lack of action and attitude to the continuous degradation of the historical Chisinau, although Moldova signed a series of international conventions on protecting architectural heritage and historical cities. “Only between 2006 and 2011, 40 state-protected monuments have been destroyed”, he stressed. Alexandru Corduneanu claims that, as a municipal councilor, he tried to intervene in public administration with statements, questions, protests or civic groups. “My attempt to create an inter-institutional workgroup involving the Ministry of Culture, the City Hall and the Academy of Sciences was cleverly indexed”, Corduneanu said. Among the actions proposed to the Prime Minister, Corduneanu mentioned the creation of a Municipal Monument Service within the Chisinau Municipality. The structure would focus on developing and promoting policies of historical heritage protection and maintenance. Moreover, Corduneanu deems necessary a public investigation by Prosecutor General’s Office within the central and local administration structures regarding the infringement of legislation on the protection of historical Chisinau. According to the councilor, the Amendment of Chisinau’s Urban Planning, scheduled for 2011, with the participation of EU experts, is also required. According to data of the Monuments Restoration and Inspection Agency, about 8 historical monuments have been demolished over the last 10 years. There less than 1000 monuments left in Chisinau’s historical center.