CASA MEMORIALA ALEXEI MATEEVICI

This museum of national importance is located in the Mateevici family home. It was established on 26 March 1988, on the centenary of the birth of Alexei Mateevici. It traces the life and work of the poet who left an impressive literary legacy consisting of translations of novels on the history and development of Christianity in Moldova, as well as a collection of poems. The last poem he left before his death, Limba noastră (Our Language), became the anthem of the Republic of Moldova in 1994. The museum preserves more than 7,000 pieces (documents, photographs and personal objects of the Mateevici family). The family library has dozens of volumes in Russian, Romanian, French and German. This very well maintained museum is set in the middle of a garden with a beautiful stone wall. A bronze statue of the poet welcomes us at the entrance. Maia, the wife of the museum director, is present for the visit and speaks very good French. Every spring, in Zaim, in memory of the young poet (who died at the age of 29), a Comoara ("Treasure") young talent competition is organised. Among his most famous poems: Ţăranii (Peasants), Eu cânt (I sing), Văd Prăbuşirea (I see the collapse), Basarabenilor (The Bessarabians), Frunza Nucului (Walnut leaf), and Unora (Some).

An annex of the museum is dedicated to art and culture in southern Bessarabia. Another Alexei Mateevici museum is in Cainari, where he was born.