“On Chisinau Day, I bid its inhabitants a better life, to solve all the social problems and to remain the true masters of this city. I want us together to preserve historical monuments, to develop the city and maintain it as Europe's greenest capital. I loved, love and will love Chisinau for as long as I live”, ex-Chisinau Mayor (1994-2005) Serafim Urecheanu told Info-Prim Neo. He remembers when he was appointed mayor in 1994, he thought about returning to the City Day holiday. In 1995, it was decided the holiday would be celebrated on the first Sunday in October. “Until 2001, we marked it without an problems. However, when the communists came into power, the attacks began. Vladimir Voronin, then president, decreed that the Wine Day would be celebrated on the first Sunday in October”, recalled Serafim Urecheanu. The former mayor explained that the Municipality had to find a way to celebrate the City Day separately from the Wine Day. Fortunately, the moment coincided with the reopening of the Metropolitan Church of Nativity after renovation on October 14, when Orthodox Christians observe the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God. It was then decided that Chisinau would have its Patron Saint's Day on that date. Thus, the holiday, previously secular, got a Christian meaning. “We avoided the pressure organized by the Communist government, which obviously wasn't to their liking”, said Urecheanu. Now, the two holidays coincide only once in 7 years. Serafim Urecheanu stressed that the Chisinau's Patron Saint's Day has a special signification. It coincides with the date of the reopening of the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Bell-tower of Memory, destroyed by the Communist regime in 1964. Now, the two edifices rise beautifully and are the main objectives of the Moldovan Christian Orthodox Church. “Chisinau was always a beautiful city, one of the greenest in Europe, a capital that once caught the attention of European institutions. In 1999, it was awarded the honor flag of the Council Europe and the CoE golden plaque in 2003. While I was mayor, for 11 years, I signed twinning agreements with many European capitals and not only. It is Chisinau that started step by step the integration in European structures”, said Urecheanu. The former mayor concluded that he wished the white stone city to continue to perform its duties as capital of the young democratic state of Moldova. This year marks 575 years since the first documentary record of the “settlement near the Bic River, on the valley to Acbas' Chesenau” on 17 July 1436. {Serafim Urecheanu was appointed mayor by presidential decree in August 1994. He was then elected by popular vote in 1999 and re-elected in 2003. In 2005, he gave up the mayoral seat to be an MP. He is currently the chairman of the Court of Accounts.}