The Festival Program:

October 10-16 The international children dance festival, capital’s concert halls

October 13

10.30 Poetry Day in Classic’s Alley, Stefan the Great’s park

13.00 The ceremony of opening Liviu Damian’s memorial board,st.Gheorge Coshbuc,14

14.30 The grand opening of the “Memory Factory -1984“ exhibition in the building of history museum of Chisinau,st. Mateevici,60a.

October14-15

10.00- European championship and international competition on sports dancing “Chisinau Open 2000”, the Palace of Republic

October 14

8.00-Acathistus of the Protective Veil of Our Lady in Central Cathedral

8.00- The assembly of municipal clergy and congregation in Cuflea Church and St. Nicolai Church , where the relics of Saint and Venerable Antipus from Suruceni monastery were brought. The procession of participants with gonfalons in Stefan the Great’s Bulevard to Central Cathedral.

9.00 Placing the relics of Saint and Venerable Antipus from Suruceni monastery in Central Cathedral for worshiping.

10.00 Saint liturgy in Central Cathedral park

12.15 The procession around Central Cathedral park to Stefan’s the Great monument

13.00 Laying the flowers on the Stefan’s the Great monument. Official speeches. Sanctifying and handing the Stefan’s the Great Battle Flag to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RM

14.00 The opening of the Ceucari street and trolleybus route in Staraia Pochta district in Rishkani sector.

14.00 The performance ” To thee, the Lord, we are praying” –dedicated to the 2000 anniversary of Christianity

15.00 The concert with church choirs, famous bands and musicians as participants, the Great National Meeting Square

16.00 The show program (competitions, quizzes, lotteries, performances, children’s program , fashion parade etc.),organized by “SUN TV” company and “M-Studio” Arts Producing Center, the National Opera public garden

17.00 Artistic programme and kit lottery, arranged by Centre Prefecture, “Coca-Cola” company and “ The Young Generation” association, the public garden next to “UNIC” shop.

17.50 The grand opening of Chisinau’s patronal icon “The Protective Veil of Our Lady “,Central Cathedral park

18.05 Chisinau’s patronal festival’s choir together with folk orchestra “Carutsa” and “Folklore”, the Great National Meeting Square

18.05 Entertainment artistic programs in municipal sectors along Stefan the Great’s Bulevard

20.30 The entertainment program with pop musicians and bands, the Great National Meeting Square

22.00 Holiday fireworks

22.10 The entertainment program continuation

The first celebrations started on Friday, October 13. The Poetry Day had its place in Classic’s Alley, the memorial desk in the memory of the writer Liviu Damian ,who lived here from 1981 to 1986, was set up on the house in Coshbuc’ s street,24. The mayor of the capital Serafim Urechean ,the writer’s widow Anastasia, a lot of writers and literary men participated in the ceremony. October 14 was characterized by a sequence of different events.

In the morning the chime of all the Chisinau’s churches announced the beginning of Saint liturgy under the open sky, dedicated to the first patronal festival of the city, which coincided with the great Christian holiday of “The Protective Veil of Our Lady”. The mayor Serafim Urechean said that the celebration of the Chisinau’s patronal day is the reviving of our traditions, and from this very year on it is celebrated together with the orthodox religious holiday “The Protective Veil of Our Lady”.

This year the religious program of festivities was extremely rich. It started from the Acathistus of the Protective Veil of Our Lady in Central Cathedral, after what the relics of the Saint and Venerable Antipus from Suruceni monastery were placed there. Then the icons of the “Girbovets Virgin”, “The Birth of the Saviour” and “The Protective Veil of Our Lady” were carried out for worshipping. The saint liturgy was performed by the clergy led by Metropolitan of Chisinau and the whole of Moldova Vladimir. One of the most colorful of the religious-artistic celebrations was the performance “To thee, the Lord, we are praying”, which was organized in the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet , and the culmination of the holiday was the chime of all the Chisinau’s churches. After that Chisinau’s patronal festival’s choir performance together with folk orchestras “Carutsa” and “Folklore” started at the Great National Meeting Square.

Then the ceremony of handing the honoured St. George flags to the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Internal Affairs was marked by a speech of Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, the President Petru Lucinski. He welcomed the return to traditions and ancestry belief. The head of the republic noted the efforts of the population, Chisinau’s and Moldova’s Metropolitan Vladimir and the Chisinau’s mayor Serafim Urechean in restoration of the Cathedral and Bell Tower in the centre of the capital.

The united choirs of church and army together with the army orchestra sang the national anthem “ Limba Noastra”. After laying the flowers on the Stefan’s the Great monument the participants of the church procession brought the gonfalons to the Cathedral, while the high-ranking officials moved to the Opera theatre for having the ceremonial meeting.

The patron’s saint day turned out to be a double holiday for Staraia Pochta’s dwellers- the 2 new trolleybus routes were opened, so for the time being all the people who live in this district have the possibility to get to the center of the town faster. In addition 50 transport units after having had the major repairs were put on line. As a result, there are 250 trolleybuses to serve the passengers. The head of administration of electrical transport Victor Martiniuc noted that these trolleybuses were repaired due to the credits received at the beginning of September.

As he said, the profit doubled as the result of cancellation the thoroughfare privileges in transport.

After the official part of the holiday the popular fete started. Everyone could choose what he liked the most. One preferred to have a stick of shashlyk and a glass of wine –there were enough of bars, terraces and mini restaurants in the area, the other one applauded the children’s dance group “Fantezia” or hurried to the “UNIC” shop to see the fashion show, arranged by the “Pigmalion” agency. You could also see the young people dancing rap and techno near the “Moldova” hotel, or the people taking up a song of bards giving the concert of amateur songs near the National Palace. And there were people who considered it the best to walk around the fairs and exhibitions, organized in every district of the town, also followed by the musical performances. Everybody was in high spirits which was warmed up in the numerous stalls selling not only snacks but good Moldovan wine.

As a matter of fact that very day "Poliproject Exhibitions" Ltd company together with the “Vinaria- Bardar” JS, ”Vinuri Ialoveni” JS and “Aspect-Invest” company offered the Chisinau’s inhabitants and the capital’s guest’s Moldovan wine of the perfect quality directly from the producers.

The stand at the exhibition was visited by the Netherlands businessmen who had already known about the Moldovan wine characteristics due to the similar exhibition in Hanover. Not only they support the idea of carrying out the wine festival on City’s Day, but are ready to think over the promoting the Moldovan wines on the Holland market. The producers demonstrated their own production ,attracted the guests’ attention and had a successful bargaining. Arkadii Andronik , the general manager of "Poliproject Exhibitions" Ltd company, reported that from now and then the wine festival would be held annually, while the number of its participants would increase considerably. The national “VinMoldova” is an important event so the experienced managers of "Poliproject Exhibitions" would hold the wine festivals at the highest possible qualification level. The permanent visitors of the wine celebrations would be informed in advance, making them realize that wine –tasting in the harvest period is a popular holiday. Supposedly the next year will bring more wine due to the winegrowers from different regions of Moldova, and every person willing to participate in the celebration will be able to show his fermenting young wine off.

The celebration reached its climax in the evening when the holiday fireworks were accompanied by the music, and the multiple crowd on the Stefan’s the Great boulevard was like a storming sea.

On Sunday, 15 October, those who didn’t get tired during the previous day could enjoy some more celebrations. One of the most important was undoubtedly musical-choreographic performance “Luceafarul”, dedicated to the 150 anniversary of Mihai Eminescu, staged on the music by Eugeniu Doga. The symphonic orchestra of National Philharmonic, the ballet group of National Theatre of Opera and Ballet, the academic choir “Doina” and the soloists of National Theatre of Opera and Ballet took part in the performance too.

The other remarkable event of the day was musical-choreographic performance held in the National Philharmonic, marked by the high artistic professionalism and already forgotten in the capital of the country southern optimism-the Taraklian artists celebrated the City’s day in their own special way. Even the president of the country Petru Lucinski honoured the 3-hour performance by his presence and together with the crowded hall was saying good-bye to the artists from Taraklia, who all went out on the scene at the performance end.

By the way, according to the police reports, there were recorded 141 social order offences on October 14, which is considerably less than average figures during the ordinary days. 118 people were held up being alcoholically intoxicated, however only 8 of them were taken to detoxication center.

The mayor of the capital Serafim Urechean met the Bucharest vice-mayor Ioan Enciu, who visited the city on account of Chisinau’s patronal festival. During this meeting the possibilities of further collaboration between two twinned towns were discussed. In particular, they were talking about the specialist’s exchange in the following fields: public transport, constructions and improving the area, servicing the inhabited sectors and lighting the streets. Concerning the street lighting the mayor Serafim Urechean offered the prefects to collaborate with the economic agents. If every organization bought a single lamp, then 50,000 torches would lighten the dark streets of the town. The representatives of Kiev, Odessa and Tula also took part in the celebrations. Actually, after that significant event the condition of the streets improved – just have a look at Staraia Pochta and Centre streets’ illumination. Let’s hope that every City’s day will bring us at least one illuminated street.