Soviet Chisinau Walking Tour (with lunch, drink & entrance fees)

The Railway Station was bombed during World War II. It was redesigned in Stalinist style, and the current station no longer resembles the old one. It is both a place of progress and sorrow, as here 100,000 people were deported during USSR, often forced into labor camps where many perished.

The National Museum of Military History offers a fascinating, sometimes sobering, look at the country’s complex past through the lens of war and defense. The museum occupies a Soviet-era building and houses an extensive collection that spans from medieval fortifications and weapons to Moldova’s role in the World Wars, Soviet period, and Transnistrian conflict.

The Eternity Memorial Complex (Complexul Memorial „Eternitate”) is one of Chișinău’s most striking Soviet-era landmarks. Built in 1975 to honor the Soviet soldiers who died in World War II, the site is immediately recognizable by its five towering reddish-pink granite arms that rise up and meet at the center in the shape of a pyramid. At the heart burns an eternal flame, guarded traditionally by soldiers, symbolizing everlasting remembrance.

The Chișinău State Circus is one of the city’s most iconic and haunting Soviet landmarks — a grand architectural symbol of the USSR’s optimism. Opened in 1981, it was designed to be among the most impressive circuses in the Soviet Union, hosting over 2,000 spectators beneath a massive concrete dome. The circus was more than entertainment — it was a tool of propaganda, celebrating the idea that socialism could provide joy, culture, and wonder for everyone.

The Parliament of Moldova, housed in a striking white building on Ștefan cel Mare Boulevard, is a classic example of late Soviet monumental architecture adapted for post-independence governance. Completed in 1976, it originally served as the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR — the local legislative body that operated under Moscow’s direction. Today, it remains the seat of Moldova’s democracy, within walls built for a very different system.

Casa Presei (Press House) is an emblematic Soviet-era buildings, constructed in the 1970s to centralize the state’s newspapers, printing presses, and editorial offices. Designed in the heavy, functional style typical of late Soviet modernism, it symbolized the power of information — carefully curated by the state. From here, official narratives were printed and distributed across the republic, shaping public opinion and reinforcing the ideals of socialism.

The city’s last remaining public statue of Vladimir Lenin — a rare survivor from a time when such monuments dominated every town square. Its weathered presence tells a layered story: of power and propaganda, of a system that sought permanence but could not outlast its contradictions.