Central bus station waiting room mosaic – Chișinău – Moldova

I’ve seen this mosaic referred to with two different names. The first is ‘The City is flourishing and being built’ and the second is ‘Hospitable Moldova’. It covers the whole wall at one end of the waiting room of Chișinău’s main bus station. There’s quite a bit going on here; a family is meeting visitors at the bus station; people working in construction; students going to school/college; musicians getting together; an electrician going up a pylon; a woman standing on a balcony outside her flat; a welder with his welding helmet; all with the background of a modern city in the process of being built.

The background is what is normally recognised as a mosaic but the people are depicted in a relief format, giving the image a 3D effect. There are also large flower images with a much deeper relief which provide colour to the the image. This produces an effect similar to the mosaic on the outside wall of the bus station in Bălți.

On the opposite wall (reached by stairs by one of the side entrances to the waiting room) there are more large and colourful relief mosaics, this time of large flowers and some geometric designs – but without any people.

When the mosaic was first installed it would have been possible to have seen it in full but commercialisation has meant that small shops have now been constructed in the waiting room space and they go right up to the wall on both sides so its no longer possible to see it as was originally intended.

All Soviet art works are now ‘vulnerable’, especially in a country like Moldova where there is a scramble from the ‘pro-Westerners’ in positions of power to ingratiate themselves with the European Union and hence to be able to feed at the same trough as the other bureaucrats. Although there are efforts to preserve these works of art throughout the country it appears that this particular mosaic might be under some threat. This is a prime location and there might be plans for a major commercial development of the market area and demotion might be on the cards.