The mosaic ‘Energy’ on the CET 1 power plant – Chișinău – Moldova

Posted on 03/05/2026 by Michael

CET 1 on Strada Vadul lui Vodă 5

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

VI Lenin and Palace of Culture Mosaic – Ribniţa – Pridnestrovie

The mosaic ‘Energy’ on the CET 1 power plant – Chișinău – Moldova

S.A. Centrala electrică cu termoficare nr.1 Chişinău (S. A. Power Plant with district heating No.1 Chişinău – CET 1) was first constructed in 1951 for both electricity generation and to provide hot water for communal heating. This system was common in Soviet Republics and these are the industrial units, with large chimneys, you’ll see in the centre of many towns and cities – looking somewhat incongruous amongst the residential buildings.

From what I’ve been able to find out it ceased providing hot water to residential buildings some time ago. Presently there seems to be a lot of clearance of older residential properties and the construction of modern apartment blocks – a process of yuppification where heating is on an individual basis.

When I was there, towards the end of 2025, the whole site looked abandoned so I’m not sure if these buildings will last much longer.

This is unfortunate as along the side of the building (that fronts onto the main road) is a very large Soviet era mosaic. This is something I like about Soviet art in its various forms – it was used to make the mundane more attractive. This reached its pinnacle in the decoration of the Moscow Metro system. If any ‘art’ were to be installed in the vast majority of cases on capitalist structures it would be in the form of advertising hoardings designed to promote even more consumerism.

The mosaic itself is long and narrow and fills the space between the windows on the ground floor and the windows on the first floor.

The mosaic is made up of seven panels which, basically, tell the story about the function of the building. The central panel has a large image of a male. A capitalist interpretation would describe this male as a God of Fire – but a Socialist interpretation would describe him as representative of those who worked in the plant and, from their labour, kept the fires burning and the machinery functioning to create the heat needed to produce the hot water for local distribution and the turbines running for the production of electricity.

This image has the back of his left hand pressed against his forehead and around his outstretched right arm flames shoot out in all directions. He is pointing to the workers, depicted in the last two panels, (on the left hand side) who work to provide the communal heating for the neighbourhood.

On the right hand side of the central male we first get a stylised representation of electricity with lightening bolt images. This is followed, at the extreme right side edge of the mosaic, of workers by the turbines.

In the very bottom right hand corner the mosaic is ‘signed’. However, some of the tiles are missing but it’s still possible to make out the name of the mosaic artist Alexander Kuzmin – who worked in Moldova but was born in Kostroma in Russia in 1939. In Cyrillic there’s К(уз)ьм(и)н – the letters in brackets are missing. This is followed by the date, which is also damaged, but other sources quote the year as being 1988.

There are some places where tiles are missing but any such damage does not really have a great impact on the image. If we take into account the age and the fact that it is unlikely there has been any significant maintenance since the early 1990s, it is in a remarkably good condition. How it will survive the wrecking ball is another matter.

It’s best seen in the winter when the trees are not in leaf as much of the mosaic will be obscured by the trees in front of the building in the warmer months – a bit like the historical mosaic on the Lenin factory in Bălți.

Artist;

Alexander Kuzmin

Created;

1988

Location;

On the part of the building, to the left of the tall chimney, facing the main road at Strada Vadul lui Vodă 5.

GPS;

47.02691 N

28.86510 E

How to get there;

Trolleybus No. 7 from Alexander Pushkin Street in the city centre passes right in front of the building. Get off at the bus stop before CET-1 – otherwise it’s along and complicated walk back. It’s also not far from the North Bus Station, look for the tall, red and white chimney towards the east.

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

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Central bus station waiting room mosaic – Chișinău – Moldova

Posted on 03/05/2026 by Michael

Central bus station waiting room

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

Soviet-era mosaics in Cahul – Gagauzia

Soviet Mosaics – Bălți – Moldova

VI Lenin and Palace of Culture Mosaic – Ribniţa – Pridnestrovie

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.

Artist;

Mikhail Burya

Created;

1974

Location:

Central bus station, Mitropolit Varlaam St 58,

GPS;

47.01962 N

28.84502 E

How to get there;

The bus station building is an integral part of Chișinău’s Central Market

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

Soviet-era mosaics in Cahul – Gagauzia

Soviet Mosaics – Bălți – Moldova

VI Lenin and Palace of Culture Mosaic – Ribniţa – Pridnestrovie

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău – Moldova

Posted on 09/04/2026 by Michael

Victory Memorial – Chișinău – May 9th, 1980

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău – Moldova

The memorial park to the fallen of the Great Patriotic War in Chișinău is quite a large complex compared to many of the ones I’ve visited in the other post-Soviet Republics. In Moldova such monuments are now called ‘Eternity Memorials’. One aspect of this memorial (which is repeated in other Moldovan towns) is that the Eternal Flame is still burning. Sadly the flame has been extinguished in many places, for example, in Bishtek (Kyrgyzstan) and Tbilisi (Georgia). So at least in this small country there’s still that element of respect to those who had fallen in the anti-Fascist war.

Though it’s quite a large complex I don’t consider it very attractive – and that’s principally down to the colour of the principal structure and the six large stelae on the edge of the site that separate the memorial complex from the city’s main public cemetery.

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău

The principal structure is in the form of a large, open pyramid formed by five, 25 metre high stylised stone rifles. The numbers 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 are displayed on each of the struts indicating the years from the time that the Soviet Union was invaded until the year that the Red Army entered Berlin. In the centre is a five pointed star which houses the Eternal Flame.

The problem of this monument, for me, is its garish orange colour. That wasn’t always the case as, originally, both the pyramid and the stelae were the colour of the natural stone when the monument was constructed in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War on 9th May 1975 (when it was known as the Victory Memorial). The structure went through a renovation in time for August 24, 2006, which marked the 62nd anniversary of the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (an important victory of the Soviet Red Army over the Fascist forces – both German and Romanian – in eastern Romania). It’s almost certain it was during this renovation that the decision was taken to paint the the major structures this stand-out orange colour – an insult (assault) camouflaged as taking care of an important part of Moldova’s heritage.

Eternal Flame

I have read that the pyramid and the Eternal Flame used to have a permanent honour guard (changing every hour on the hour) but that was not the case when I visited in 2025. It’s more than likely that now the honour guard is only in place during the days surrounding the May 9th Victory Day – which is still celebrated (and is a public holiday) in Moldova. This was the situation in May 2025 in Stalingrad in Russia.

At the western edge of the complex is known as the ‘Heroes Cemetery’ where there are a number of memorials, as well as individual graves, to Red Army soldiers who died in Chișinău, either during battles within Chișinău itself in 1941 or in nearby battles towards the end of the conflict in Moldova, in August 1944, when the Nazi forces were being forced back towards their liar in Berlin. In this part of the complex as well as white pillars with the names of individual soldiers there’s a symbolic belfry and a massive bronze laurel crown which is inscribed with the words ‘We didn’t forget you’. This slogan is reflected on the more modern, major monument where can be read the words ‘No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten’. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many in the post-Socialist Republics.

This would seem to indicate that there was a relatively small memorial to those who died in the Great Patriotic War constructed soon after 1945 but it wasn’t until 30 years later that the larger and more substantial monument we see today was constructed.

Red Army Cemetery

As I type this I’m trying to work out why the Revisionists (and traitors to the October Revolution and the Party, as well as the sacrifice of all those who died in the Great Patriotic War to defend Socialism) who were in control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1975 decided to sanction the building of such a major monument in Moldova and the other of the Soviet Republics at, more or less, the same time. All I can come up with is that as they were increasingly flailing having betrayed the cause of Revolutionary Socialism and so they celebrated the past in order to hide their ineptitude in the present.

Another monument, one that is much more recent than those related to the Great Patriotic War, is ‘Grieving Mother’, which is dedicated to the ‘War of Independence of Moldova’ from 1991-1992 which resulted in the establishment of the province of Pridnestrovie (called Transnistria by those in the west that challenge its right to exist) refusing – to this day – to be considered part of the Moldova which wants to integrate/ingratiate itself with the European Union.

There is supposed to be a black cross which was erected on the site of the graves of fallen German soldiers buried here. However, I missed that (if, indeed, it does exist). It seems to be very strange to have such a fascist monument in exactly the same location as the country’s principal monument to the Soviet fallen in the Great Patriotic War. I’ve come across a monument to the German dead in Tirana, Albania – but at least that’s in a different park to the location of the National Martyrs Cemetery. There’s something off about having a memorial to Fascist dead in the country let alone in a complex commemorating the country’s martyrs to fascism.

Along the walkways there are a total of 155 marble slabs with the names of those who died in the battle against Nazism.

As stated above there are six, very large, square stelae (also now painted the same bright orange as the monument containing the Eternal Flame) which contain images of soldiers but at the same time none of them reference the enemy against which they were fighting – that is, German Nazism. Without knowing the context they could be fighting in any 20th century war.

Stela 1941

The first, the one on the left as you look towards the main cemetery with the road at your back, makes an allegorical reference to the war. Here we have a young, almost naked muscular male sitting on the ground (not obviously injured in any way) with his right arm raised, above his head and slightly behind his back. In his hand he holds a huge sword with its point reaching to the edge of the stela. This might mean a willingness and preparedness to fight to defend the cause of Socialism and the lives of his family, friends and comrades. Not really sure I understand why he’s on the ground.

Behind him, is a female standing with her left arm raised with the forearm resting on her head. This would seem to indicate mourning and sadness but also a realisation that the possible sacrifice of the male (as there is no certainty that those going off to war will return) is necessary for the common good. The expression on her face also indicates grief.

In the left-hand top corner of this stela is the number 1941 – the year of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

The next four stelae have images of ranks of armed Soviet soldiers, in all of them marching forward – even though some of their comrades are injured – and urging those behind to join the fight. They are showing determination to throw out the invader although, in the actual war, there were some serious setbacks. But after the victory of the Red Army in Stalingrad the outcome of the war was certain. It was no longer a question of if, it was a question of when.

The final one, with the year 1945 in the top, right-hand corner, celebrates the victory. Here we have the image of three soldiers, almost standing to attention – their weapons no longer pointing towards the enemy. Their uniforms and headwear demonstrating the different units involved and the fur hat of the soldier on the right emphasising that this was a war of all the people’s of the Soviet Republics. The idea of peace is shown by the fact that there’s a young girl standing by the central soldier – who has his left hand resting on her shoulder. It is now safe for her carry on her life as normal, for her and all the children in the Soviet Union.

Near to the gated entrance to the complex there’s an alcove reached by a couple of steps which contains a semi-circle of marble stelae inscribed with the names of Heroes of the Soviet Union – one of them celebrating the achievements of Semyon Timoshenko. I’m not really sure why his name is included on the honour roll here. He was born in the Odesa Oblast in the Ukraine (which is close but still a separate Republic of the Soviet Union) and I’ve seen no reference to him being involved in any of the fronts that were established in Chișinău/Moldova.

Also to be found in this memorial complex to the dead of the Red Army is a Christian chapel. This is now common in such monuments throughout the post-Socialist world. This follows a ‘tradition’ established by the Roman Catholic church from the 15th/16th centuries were Christian churches were placed on top of religious sites of the indigenous American peoples in (now) Central and Southern America. Placing the European religious buildings in such locations was tantamount to thrusting a dagger into the heart of the defeated peoples’ beliefs. This was the so-called ‘extirpation of idolatry’. The same has happened in Europe. Capitalism and its obscurantist appendages are declaring their ‘victory’ over Communism. But such a ‘victory’ is only temporary.

All in all quite a cluttered site with many (often conflicting) messages. But interesting nonetheless.