Nicolae Costin commemorated in Chisinau

On February 16, it is 15 years of the death of the first non-Soviet mayor of Chisinau, Nicolae Costin. He is one of the forerunners of the national emancipation movement in Moldova. The commemorative activities held on this occasion are organized by the Chisinau City Hall and the Association “Parlamentul-90”, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the program, a symposium “In Memoriam Nicolae Costi” and an art exhibition about the national renaissance years will be staged on February 16. A service in Nicolae Costin's memory will be held at his grave at the Central Cemetery in Chisinau. The album “We will Return Someday” will be issued by April 7, when Nicolae Costin would have turned 75. Nicolae Costin was a university lecturer and the author of 35 scientific publications on sociology. He was the executive chairman of the People's Front of Moldova and one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the first Constitution of Moldova. In 1990, he was elected chairman of the Chisinau Council and MP in the first Parliament, then mayor general of the municipality of Chisinau. He pleaded for the return to the Romanian language in Latin script, the national traditions in education and culture and the reopening of the churches in Chisinau, including the God's Birth Cathedral. Nicolae Costin contributed to the revival of the traditions connected with the Christian feasts, the setting up of busts on the Classical Writers Alley in Chisinau's central park, the renaming of the streets according to the national traditions and language, the institution of the Romanian Language Day and Independence Day, etc. “Nicolae Costin was a solitary nature that was not fully understood and supported. He never considered himself a prisoner of the past. By the way he understood things, his pace was accelerated. He was hurrying...” said the late mayor's wife Iuliana Gorea-Costin. Nicolae Costin died on February 16, 1995, at the age of 59. His death is shrouded in mystery. According to the press, Nicolae Costin would have been poisoned with radioactive cesium by forces that opposed the national revival. As no inquiry was held, the cause of his death remains unknown.