Chișinău is the capital and largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc, a tributary of the Dniester. According to the results of the 2014 census, the city proper had a population of 532,513, while the population of the Municipality of Chișinău was 700,000. Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. Nearly a third of Moldova's population lives in the metro area.
The culture of Romania is an umbrella term used to encapsulate the ideas, customs and social behaviours of the people of Romania that developed due to the country's distinct geopolitical history and evolution. It is theorized that Romanians and related peoples were formed through the admixture of the descendants of Roman colonists and the indigenous Paleo-Balkanic people who were subsequently Romanized.
The culture of Moldova is unique and influenced by the Romanian origins of its majority population, as well as the Slavic and minority Gagauz populations. The traditional Latin origins of Romanian culture reach back to the 2nd century, the period of Roman colonization in Dacia.
Romanian literature is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania.
The Romanian word lăutar denotes a class of musicians.
Șerban Vodă Cemetery is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept and hypothetical unification in the two countries that began during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a March 2022 survey following the Russian invasion of Ukraine indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the right moment.
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "A Century of Love" written by Oleg Baraliuc and Victoria Demici. The song was performed by Geta Burlacu. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2008 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. 27 entries competed to represent Moldova in Belgrade, with 12 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 9 February 2008. "A Century of Love" performed by Geta Burlacu emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel, a TRM committee and a public televote.
Ilarion Ciobanu was a Romanian actor. He has been described as "a legend" in the press and the last true Romanian comic.
Moldova participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Hora din Moldova" written by Veaceslav Daniliuc, Andrei Hadjiu, Nelly Ciobanu and Aristotelis Kalimeris. The song was performed by Nelly Ciobanu. The Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) organised the national final O melodie pentru Europa 2009 in order to select the Moldovan entry for the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia. 39 entries competed to represent Moldova in Moscow, with 20 being shortlisted to participate in the televised national final which took place on 14 February 2009. "Hora din Moldova" performed by Nelly Ciobanu emerged as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a jury panel, a committee and a public televote.
Parliamentary elections were held in the Moldavian SSR in February and March 1990 to elect the 380 members of the Supreme Soviet. They were the first and only free elections to the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR, and although the Communist Party of Moldova was the only registered party allowed to contest the elections, opposition candidates were allowed to run as independents. Together with affiliated groups, the Popular Front of Moldova won a landslide victory. Candidates who were openly supporters of the Popular Front won about 27% of the seats; together with moderate Communists, mainly from rural districts, they commanded a majority.
The Order of the Republic is Moldova's highest order. It is awarded by the President of Moldova for exceptional merits in all fields which benefit Moldova and humanity as a whole. The order was established in July 1992 and its collar and badge are made from silver.
Alexandru Robot was a Romanian, Moldovan and Soviet poet, also known as a novelist and journalist. First noted as a member of Romanian literary clubs, and committed to modernism and the avant-garde, he developed a poetic style based on borrowings from Symbolist and Expressionist literature. Also deemed a "Hermeticist" for the lexical obscurity in some of his poems, as well as for the similarity between his style and that of Ion Barbu, Robot was in particular noted for his pastorals, where he fused modernist elements into a traditionalist convention.
Simion Ghimpu was a writer from Moldova.
Nicolae Sulac was a folk music singer from the Republic of Moldova.
In Romania, the syntagm muzică populară is used to denote a musical genre based on folklore, but distinct from it. The distinction is both in form and essence and it arises mainly from the commercial aspect of the popular music. In English the term is ambiguous since it could also refer to Romanian pop music.
Nicolae Glib is a Moldovan folk music singer. He lives in the commune of Pepeni, Sîngerei district, Republic of Moldova.
The Advahov Brothers are a Moldovan folk music duo, consisting of the brothers Vasile and Vitalie Advahov. The duo was founded in 2005 and is based in Chișinău. Along with Zdob și Zdub, they represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "Trenulețul".
