Chisinau Map

• Chișinău is the most economically developed and industrialised city in Moldova. It is a major industrial and services center; its main industries include consumer and electrical goods, building materials, machinery, plastics, rubber, and textiles. The main service fields are banking and shopping/commerce. The economy of Chișinău is mainly centered on industry and services, with the latter particularly growing in importance in the last ten years.

• Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the city has become a relatively lively and well-provisioned capital, with a much higher standard of living than in most rural areas of the country.

• Chișinău is located on the river Bîc, a tributary of the Dniester, at 47°0′N 28°55′E / 47°N 28.917°E / 47; 28.917, with an area of 120 km². The entire municipality comprises 635 km².

• The city lies in central Moldova and is surrounded by a relatively level landscape with very fertile ground. This has allowed for the cultivation of grapevine and fruit since medieval times.

• In the chaos of the Second World War Chișinău was almost completely destroyed. This began with the Soviet occupation by the Red Army on 28 June 1940. As the city began to recover from the takeover, a devastating earthquake occurred on 10 November 1940. The epicenter of the quake, which measured 7.3 on the Richter scale, was in eastern Romania and subsequently led to substantial destruction in the city.

• After scarcely one year, the assault on the newly created Moldovan SSR by the German and Romanian armies began. Beginning with July 1941 the city suffered from large-scale shooting and heavy bombardments by Nazi air raids. The Red Army resistance in Chișinău fell on 17 July 1941.

• Following the occupation, the city suffered from the characteristic mass murder of its predominantly Jewish inhabitants. As had been seen elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the Jews were transported on trucks to the outskirts of the city and then summarily shot in partially dug pits. The number of Jews murdered during the initial occupation of the city is estimated at approximately 10,000 people.

• As the war drew to a conclusion, the city was once more pulled into heavy fighting as German and Romanian troops retreated. Chișinău was taken by the Red Army on 24 August 1944 as a result of the Jassy-Kishinev Operation. By this point the city had lost about 70% of its buildings – the earthquake of 1940 and the air raids contributing to the largest part of this.

• After the war, Bessarabia was fully integrated into the Soviet Union. Most of Bessarabia became the Moldavian SSR with Chișinău as its capital; smaller parts of Bessarabia became parts of the Ukrainian SSR.

• Chișinău is governed by the City Council and the City Mayor (Romanian: Primar), both elected once every four years. The current mayor is Dorin Chirtoacă. His predecessor was Serafim Urechean. Under the Moldovan constitution, Urechean – elected to parliament in 2005 – was unable to hold an additional post to that of an MP. The Democratic Moldova Bloc leader subsequently accepted his mandate and in April resigned from his former position. During his 11 year term, Urechean committed himself to the restoration of the church tower of the Catedrala Nașterea Domnului, as well as improvements in public transport. From 1994, Chișinău saw the construction and launch of new trolleybus lines, as well as an increase in capacities of existing lines, in order to improve connections between the urban districts.

• Next elections took place on 10 July, 24 July, 27 November and 11 December 2005. On the first occasion only 26.93% of voters participated, below the one-third turnout necessary to validate the poll. Three subsequent attempts in July, November and December saw the election turnout fall further to 19.82%, 22.37% and 22.07% respectively. After several months in limbo it was announced that the momentary office holder Vasile Ursu, could continue to hold the position, until the next scheduled elections in 2007.

• The current mayor, Dorin Chirtoacă from the Liberal party, took office after elections in June 2007. He was declared the victor in the second round of voting on 17 June 2007. 36,26 % of the voters took part in the vote, just over the validation threshold. Chirtoacă won reelection in June 2011, narrowly defeating the candidate from the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon. He received 50.6% of the vote to Dodon's 49.4%.