One of the most beautiful Europe’s performance halls falling into ruin in the heart of Chisinau

For 10 days already, one of the most beautiful performance halls of Europe, the Organ Hall of Chisinau, is surrounded with a fence. The administration of the Hall decided this way to protect the pedestrians from possible injuries made by parts of the decorative elements falling off from the building. According to sources of the Organ Hall, the decision to fence the building was taken 10 days ago, when a piece of a decorative element fell on the pavement. Now the spectators are to enter the Hall through a staff door. Since the end of 2003 the pavement near the Organ Hall of from the side of Vlaicu Parcalab Street was surrounded, yet the restoring works have never started. The manager of the Hall, Larisa Zubcu, warned, at the beginning of 2004, that beside the serious condition, almost accidental, of the building, a deadly danger for pedestrians are the statutes located on the roof, dating back the beginning of 20-th century. Ex-manager of the Organ Hall Vasile Voloh said that the institution always was „a step child” of the Ministry of Culture and the government. Voloh noted that many addresses were submitted for repairing of the building, but it current situation shows clearly the state’s indifference toward the art monument, situated in the heart of the capital. In his opinion, the repairing of the Organ Hall should be considered as a priority, and only after that 35 million lei should have gone to restoring the Memorial Compound “Eternity”, 9 million lei to reconstructing the monument Stefan cel Mare, and other 9 million – for fountains and pavement of the square in front of the National Opera. The consultant of the Patrimony Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Sergiu Cherdivara, said that the amount of the repairs of this hall is estimated at 20 million lei. This amount is included in the petition addressed by the ministry to the government. According to Cherdivara, the edifice was built, at the end of XIX century, lacking construction norms, that is why it needs urgent consolidation works. Chisinau Organ Hall is a unique hall in Europe, due to its front part, acoustic and location in the middle of the city. Within the building, built in 1901, in a classical style with romantic elements, by the architect Seidevan and under the guidance of the engineer Mihail Cekeruli-Kus, in cooperation with Alexander Bernardarzzi, was installed an organ by the Czech company “Righer-Closs”, having 4,000 tubes in 41registers. Specialists say that the organ is totally different from the ones from Europen catholic churches.