A conference entitled “Spiridon Vangheli, virtues and values of childhood” was held on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the Moldovan writer. In the event, there was presented a research on the writer’s literary activity and his views on the literature in the Soviet times. Students of the art school “Valeriu Polyakov” presented several plays written by Vangheli, such as the “People’s Tale”, “Winter in “Three Goat Kids” Village”, “The Stork” and “Guguță about Santa Claus”. The conference was hosted by the Municipal Library “B. P. Hașdeu” in Chisinau, IPN reports.

Nadejda Ivanov, researcher of the Institute of Philology “Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu” of the Academy of Sciences, said that Spiridon Vangheli is a renaissance spring, the prototype of the peasant who is free to imagine and wants to go far beyond the existing ideological rigors. The book “Adventures of Guguță” appared this way, as a contunation of the boy from the blu hut, of love for the family, nation and country.

Nadejda Ivanov said that literature in the Soviet times was in a disastrous state and Spiridon Vangheli endeavored to change the situation. Together with Grigore Vieru, he decided to address the then minister of education and to propose reviewing the school textbooks, mainly for the primary school so as to promote reading and the children became attached to the characters when reading.

At the end of the 1960s, Spiridon Vangheli and Grigore Vieru proposed that the Ministry of Education should design a primer four first graders. When it was decided to approve the book, the censors decided that the drawings made by painter Igor Vieru are too Romanian and the manuscript was sent to Moscow for being truncated and a new book was compiled. In 1989, the primer of 1970 was revived in the Latin script. This is the current primer known by everyone. 

Deputy mayor of Chisinau Angela Kutasevich said the event was held to familiarize the public with the value of Spiridon Vangheli’s works and to strengthen the methodological aspects in the promotion of his personality.

The event was timed to coincide with Spiridon Vangheli’s 98th  birthday. Also on June 14, the Chisinau Municipal Council decided that Primary School No. 90 of Botanica district will be called Primary School “Spiridon Vangheli”, at the suggestion of the school’s administrator and parents of students attending this school. The given institution now has 14 primary classed with 415 students and 22 teachers.