Mourning Mother – Bălți – Moldova

Posted on 27/12/2025 by Michael

Mourning Mother

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Mourning Mother – Bălți – Moldova

Although this is quite a unique statue – at least I haven’t seen a war memorial like this before – and obviously (at the time of its inauguration) an important monument for the people of Bălți, I have found it impossible to find out any information about it.

That doesn’t meant to say it is has been neglected as both the statue and the small gardens around it have been regularly managed. It’s location, far from the town itself but at the highest point along the road from Bălți to Chișinău, also seems to indicate that some consideration had been made over its placement.

The statue stands in the middle of a small island separating the lanes to and from Bălți. It’s a simple statue of a standing female, looking straight ahead, with her arms, bent at the elbow, facing in the direction of her gaze. Over her forearms is a large folded banner, which extends further down on her left side than her right. Her hands clutch the edge of the banner which enables her to create a platform for a large wreath, the weight of which creates a dent in the banner, which rests against her abdomen. There is no sign whatsoever of any decoration in her headscarf nor her dress and cape.

Location;

At the far end of Strada Gagarin, on the R14, as the road leaves Bălți on the way to Chișinău.

GPS;

47.72441 N

27.99004 E

How the get there;

It’s a long haul up a steep hill as you leave the city behind you. Bus No 4 has its terminus at the statue. The bus is signed ‘monumentul’ and goes along Strada Stefan cel Mare, in the centre of Bălți, in the north easterly direction.

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Maxim Gorky in Chișinău – Moldova

Posted on 13/12/2025 by Michael

Maxim Gorky – Chișinău – 01

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Maxim Gorky in Chișinău – Moldova

There are a lot of advantages of walking around post-Socialist cities looking for statues and other monuments to VI Lenin – and other revolutionary, Bolshevik leaders. One is that you end up in parts of cities you would never think to visit if not on the search for an elusive statue. The other is that you are very likely to come across another monument/bas relief/statue of which you had no previous knowledge.

That was the case in one of the walkabouts in Chișinău.

Maxim Gorky – Chișinău – 02

Just looking to make sure I wouldn’t be run over by some careless driver I looked into what turned out to be student accommodation of the agricultural academy. There, directly opposite the entrance, was a statue of the Soviet writer Maxim Gorky – erected in 1977.

It is not in the best of conditions and its surrounding have a lot to be desired but he was there nonetheless. Perhaps not cared for but not desecrated either. Indicating to me that there was some sort of respect to the person as a writer – in a country (that is, all the post Socialist countries) where literacy (and education in general) was considered something to be treasured.

Maxim Gorky – Chișinău – 03

The privatisation of education (especially at University level) might have challenged some of those precepts by now but the power of the word and the book (although now, perhaps digital) has not gone away. In Tirana, for example, when the rest of the society was falling apart there was still an annual book fair and the country was publishing books, in the Albanian language, in numbers relative to population levels, which major English speaking countries could only envy.

Hence more than 30 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union a statue of the great Soviet writer still stands in a housing complex on the edge of Chișinău city centre.

Maxim Gorky – Chișinău – 04

But this is not a unique piece of art. Some of the more expensive (granite or marble) statues of the top leadership might have been individually made but many statues (including some of those of Comrades Lenin and Stalin) would have been massed produced.

So it is with the writer Maxim Gorky. The statue in Chișinău is exactly the same as the one in Family Park in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

For anyone interested in Soviet Literature, including some of the works of Maxim Gorky, visit Culture, science, literature and art in the USSR.

Location;

Strada Constantin Tănase 7

GPS;

47.02846 N

28.83934 E

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VI Lenin in Comrat – Gagauzia – Moldova

Posted on 28/11/2025 by Michael

VI Lenin in Comrat

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VI Lenin in Comrat – Gagauzia – Moldova

The monument to VI Lenin in Comrat, Gagauzia, stands in a square that’s in front of the building of the Executive Committee of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.

It’s different from many I’ve seen as there’s an element of movement in his stance. He has a document case clasped in his right hand and it is pressed against his body. The bottom edge of his overcoat on the left hand side is flowing slightly behind him and as he is also leaning forward you get the impression he is in a hurry to get to a meeting. Not that he would be late. Vladimir Ilyich had a reputation for also being one of the first at any meeting and he would use the extra time on making note of any last minute thoughts he might have had.