Muzeul Național de Artă a Moldovei (National Art Museum of Moldova)

What you'll see

This is Moldova's most important art museum, with a collection built up from the 1930s onwards: painting, sculpture and decorative arts, with sections of national art and international works. The display occupies historic buildings on Strada 31 August 1989, which adds a further layer to the visit — the interiors are worth attention in themselves.

For anyone short of time, a visit of an hour and a half reasonably covers the main sections. If you are particularly interested in Bessarabian art of the first half of the twentieth century, this is the place with the densest concentration of works in the country. The wider cultural context is in the traditions and culture section.

Getting there

The address is 115 Strada 31 August 1989, in the city centre, one street from Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Boulevard. From anywhere in the central area you can walk there in a few minutes. The entrance is marked as wheelchair-accessible. Parking in the area is on-street and crowded during working hours.

When to go

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00, with Monday as the closing day. The quietest window is the morning, in the first two hours after opening; school groups arrive in the afternoon. Being an indoor sight, it is the obvious choice on a rainy day or a scorching summer afternoon.

What to combine it with

Strada 31 August 1989 concentrates the country's most important museums: a few dozen metres away is the National History Museum of Moldova, and a little further on, on Kogălniceanu, the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History. Three major institutions, all within walking distance, which fill a whole day.

The formula that works: art in the morning, history in the afternoon, a walk in the Grădina Publică „Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt” in between. Places to eat within the area are in the restaurants section, and the rest of the capital's sights in the Chișinău guide.