CULTURE: LITERATURE

According to globalsciencellc, the official Moldovan language, mother for approx. 3 million people, actually has a very close proximity to the Romanian one, substantially identical from a phonetic point of view. Until 1940, when Moldova was still part of Romania, there was no other language, but after the Soviet occupation there seemed to be a need, including a political one, for the rediscovery of an original Moldavian stock, with the Cyrillic alphabet.instead of Latin, contiguous to Russian. Only after 1989, Moldovan was declared an official state language. In 2003 a Moldovan-Romanian dictionary was published, strongly contested by the Romanian Linguistic Academy which affirms the absolute superimposition of the two languages. For this reason and for the history of Moldova its literary and cultural tradition runs parallel to that of Romania, making the overlaps of the past almost indivisible. The first Moldovan books were religious texts, published in the mid ca. of the sec. XVII. Among the major exponents of Moldovan culture is the erudite prince Dimitrie Cantemir (1673-1723), known as one of the greatest linguists of his time, who wrote many volumes on different subjects. His is very famous History of the development and decay of the Ottoman Empire, but it is also remembered for a work on the history of oriental music, for the first critical writing on the history of Moldova, the first geographical, ethnic and economic treatment of Moldova, Descriptio Moldaviae, and especially for the first book in Romanian language, Trupul del Cu di sufletului di sau Giudeţul di lumea del Cu di Gâlceava Inţeleptului di sau di Divanul, philosophical treatise, published in Laşi in 1698, also written in Greek and then translated into Arabic, French and English. Other important exponents are Bogdan P. Hasdeu (1836-1907), novelist and philologist, considered the pioneer of many branches of the philosophy and history of his country; And Mihail Eminescu (1850-1889), author of late Romanticism, perhaps the best known of the Romanian poets, famous above all for Luceafărul (The star of the evening), Mai am un singur dor (I remain a sol desio), and the five Writers (Epistles). Among the modern authors stand out Vladimir Besleaga, Pavel Botu (1933-1987), Aureliu Busioc, Nicolae Dabija, Ion Druta, Grigore Vieru (b. 1935), in a literary panorama that saw publication at the end of the century. XX ca. 500 books, of which more or less 400 written in Romanian, about a hundred in Russian and the remainder in other languages, including Bulgarian.

CULTURE: THEATER

At the beginning of the nineties Moldova had twelve professional theaters, aimed at the revaluation of the Romanian language, with the exception of the dramatic theater of the AP Chekhov Russian in Chisinău, the Comedy Theater in Tiraspol ‘and the Puppet Theater of the Republic of Licurici (also in Chisinău), which, due to its international character, has chosen to carry out the performances in both Russian and Romanian. In addition, the International Opera and Ballet Festival is held in the capital under governmental patronage, which for more than a decade has been celebrating the musical history of Moldova together with guests from all over the world. Members of ethnic minorities also run several folklore groups and amateur theaters across the country.

CULTURE: GENERAL INFORMATION

The cultural tradition of Moldova cannot be understood apart from the Romanian one, within which it developed into a precious exchange of mutual enrichments. It is around the century. XIV that in Romania some regional populations began to identify themselves as Moldavians, without losing the link with their Romanian matrix or forgetting the strong influence of other Slavic and oriental knowledge such as that of Ukraine and Turkey. Nor did Soviet rule play a minor role in the evolution of Moldovan culture, attempting a campaign of violent break with the past in Romania. Starting from the 1940s, the authorities developed both urban centers and cultural and scientific institutions under the aegis of Moscow, so that the ethnic memory of the country has been able to continue to live only in folklore and artisan traditions. Also from an artistic point of view, many monasteries, wooden churches, ancient fortresses, war monuments, embellished with medieval frescoes depicting religious princes and characters, or Russian-style golden icons, testify to the central role that wars, religion and the different ethnic groups have had on the history of Moldova. For this reason Moldova, despite the birth from the ruins of Soviet socialism, has kept more common traces with the customs of the countries of the former Soviet Union. With them it shares the alternation of gaze between past and future, between urbanization and rurality, between democracy and ancillary nostalgia, between also entrepreneurial openness towards the West and autarchic fallback. But the disorientation does not seem to penalize the rituals of culture, which survive and are enriched with new opportunities. The Chisinău International Ethno-Jazz Festival annually hosts well-known musicians from all over the world. The same can be said of both the Puppet Festival (Licuri dei puppets), also in Chisinău, which allows the theaters of Europe to meet and confront each other, both in national folk music and dance competitions and the Cahul International Folklore Festival.