Chisinau’s Triumphal Arch to be registered as state public property

Chisinau’s Triumphal Arch will be registered in the Real Estate Register as state public property after the Government approved today a decision on the delimitation and registration of the structure and its adjacent land. The right to administer the monument will be assigned to the Ministry of Culture, while the land will be administered by the Public Property Agency.

The Triumphal Arch, one of the capital’s iconic monuments, is part of the Holy Gates and Square monument, which is listed in the Register of Monuments of the Republic of Moldova Protected by the State.

According to the decision approved by the Government, the structure, with an area of 131.2 square meters, will be included on the list of state public property, under the administration of the Ministry of Culture. The adjacent land, with an area of 0.0151 hectares, will be included on the list of land plots owned publicly by the state and administered by the Public Property Agency.

According to Culture Minister Dan Suruceanu, approving the decision allows the authorities to move on to the next stages in the monument’s restoration process.


“Once the project is approved, we will be able to move on to the next stages: the monument’s technical expert assessment report, the feasibility study, the preparation of the restoration project, obtaining the necessary permits, and determining the cost of the works. We aim to complete the administrative and technical processes by the end of this year, so that in 2027 we can organize the procurement procedure, select the contractor, and begin the works in March or April,” he said.


Prime Minister Vasile Tofan said that the authorities are also seeking opportunities to attract sponsors to finance the restoration works.


“The Triumphal Arch is a symbol of the state, and I know that we are also trying to find sponsors so that the money does not come from the state budget, but from economic operators to finance this entire construction project,” the Prime Minister said.


To delimit and register the property, the Ministry of Culture established an inventory commission in May, while the Public Property Agency established a commission in June to delimit the structure. The cadastral works concerning the land and the structure were accepted on August 3, 2026, and the delimitation materials were submitted to the Ministry of Culture on August 7.

According to the explanatory note, the decision approved by the Government allows the procedure to be initiated for registering the state’s ownership rights over the land and structure in the Real Estate Register, as well as the Ministry of Culture’s right to administer the Triumphal Arch.

Implementing the decision does not require additional budgetary expenditures, except for the 1,000 lei allocated by the Ministry of Culture for cadastral registration services.

The decision will enter into force upon the publication in the Official Journal of the Republic of Moldova.

Chisinau’s Triumphal Arch was built in 1840–1841 according to a design by Odesa architect Luka Zaschevich and is part of the architectural ensemble in the center of the capital, alongside the Nativity Cathedral and its bell tower. The monument was also designed to house the cathedral’s enormous bell, which weighed approximately 6.4 tons and could not be installed in the bell tower.