Discover Moldova with #MOLDPRES: Alexei Mateevici house museum from Zaim village, place of tourist pilgrimage, historical connection of Bessarabian Romanians

The house museum of writer and poet Alexei Mateevici is placed in the Zaim village, Causeni district, at a distance of about 70 km far from Chisinau. It was founded in 1988, in order to commemorate the departed poet’s 100th birthday anniversary. The official opening of the house museum took place on 26 March 1988, on the 100th birthday anniversary of Alexei Mateevici.     

The building where the museum is placed was constructed by the poet’s father, Mihail Mateevici and the museum’s founders and Ion Gaina and Mihail Moraru. In 1990, the monument was erected in the museum’s yard and a plaque with the poet’s picture is placed on the front side of the museum.    

A great variety of original pieces for visitors 

The Mateevici Family lived here between 1893 and 1907. Visitors can admire a great variety of original pieces. Inside the museum, tourists can see not only the paintings and sculptures of the poet, but also documents, books written and signed by his hand, which he used to read before sleep, the photos of his family, as well as the poet’s personal things. The basic heritage and the reserve one have more than 7,000 units, including seven paintings, four sculptures, 132 household objects, 510 photos, over 100 documents, literature of the epoch and a collection of more than 400 journalism materials, etc.           

The museum shows the atmosphere of the past time through paintings, sculptures, household objects and documents, a library of rare books and epoch furniture. Thus, the museum is made up of three permanent exhibitions: the hall with bust, the hall, I Sing, the hall, Our Language, and respectively, three memorial chambers: chamber of parents, chamber of children and library of the Mateevici family. In one of the museum’s hall, there is the Silence Table, where earth from graves of classics of the Romanian literature, Mihai Eminescu, I. L. Caragiale, George Cosbuc, Mihail Sadoveanu, as well as from the graves of Alexei Mateevici’s parents is deposited.       

Important literary heritage   

Although the poet died at the age of 29 years, he left an impressive literary heritage: a set of translations and documentary works about the history and development of the Christianity in Moldova, as well as collection of poems published after his death.   

The Mateevici National Days are held in the Zaim village each year on 16-30 March and literary contests and scientific conferences are organized throughout the year.  

Merited poet and writer, Alexei Mateevici hugely contributed to the development of the national culture. Mateevici is the author of the text of the National Anthem of Moldova, Our Language.  

As a clergyman, Alexei Mateevici wrote historical and theological works, such as Gavriil Banulescu Bodoni, Our Old Publications, When and How the Moldovans Became Christians, etc. Undoubtedly, these works of Mateevici represent a source of knowledge for the next generations of the Moldovan people, estimate more philologists from both banks of the Prut river. Knowing more languages, A. Mateevici translated from works of classics of the universal literature.      

Contribution to development of Moldovan culture and of region on the whole 

Due to the road of access to the Alexei Mateevici museum house, built by the South Regional Development Agency, in 2012, the Zaim settlement of the Causeni district became point of tourist attraction.   

Based on this project, a local road of 330 metres was constructed, worth about two million lei in all.   

Thus, the Zaim settlement became place of tourist pilgrimage. The concerned project brought major qualitative changes for the local residents, as the settlement became thus more attractive from the tourist viewpoint.  

With the creation of the infrastructure as to the access to the Alexei Mateevici museum house, it was included in the national route, Through East of the Country, with a length of 250 km and with cultural and historical subjects and in 2020, it was included in the cycling tourism itinerary, Chisinau-Palanca 22 km, within the project, Rediscover Moldova, with the Alexei Mateevici museum house being one of those six destinations of the itinerary.   

The Alexei Mateevici museum house is one of the pearls of the Spiritual Axis of South – a route of the spiritual and cultural tourism, which contributed to the enhancement of the attractiveness of the settlement, of the South Region and of the national values on the whole.   

The number of visitors, which has substantially increased in the last years, tells about the importance of this project.  

Also, the Project, Road of Access to Alexei Mateevici Museum House from Zaim Village, contributed to the promotion and creation of real opportunities for the consolidation of the partnership, development of the tourist potential of the South Region and with the construction of the access road, new possibilities appeared for creative people from the district and the region, for representatives of the associative sector from the cultural and historical field, in order to extend the spectrum of creation and culture activities.        

Solid connecting chain between the entire historical past and present of the Bessarabian Romanians   

„Alexei Mateevici represents a solid connecting chain between the entire past of the Bessarabian Romanians, separated from the Mother Country in 1812, and the contemporary to him generations of Bessarabian intellectuals and peasants, who discovered who are they and what they want. Mateevici was the so-called Prophet of the Bessarabians at the phase of their reunification with the historical Motherland. He was a symbol to whom people always returned for the revival of the spirit of survival before the bad situations,’’ literary sources from Moldova say.        

Alexei Mateevici was born in the Cainari settlement, Tighina county, on 16 March 1888. He studied at the Theological School from Chisinau and the Kiev Theologian Academy. Those 12 verses of the poem, Our Language, were written in Chisinau on 17 June 1917 and on the next day, the author read the poem at the opening of courses of Romanian language for Moldovan teachers. On 21 June, the poem was published in the newspaper, Moldovan Word. The poet died at the Hospital No 1 from Chisinau on 13 August (old style) 1917 and was buried at the Central Cemetery from the capital. On 22 July 1995, the Moldovan MPs approved the verses 1, 2, 5, 8 and 12 of the Our Language poem as national anthem of Moldova. The anthem’s music belongs to Alexandru Cristea.  

Correspondent: Lilia Grubii