Tiraspol and Bender Back in the USSR Tour

We will visit the Bender Fortress, located on the right bank of the Dniester in the city of Bender. The Fortress is an architectural monument of the XVI century. Its construction started in 1538 after the town became part of the Ottoman Empire.

We will visit the Memorial complex, the site of an abandoned military cemetery, where, according to existing data, there were buried 5127 souls. It is known that 110 Russian regiments were stationed in Bender at various times, especially during Balkan campaigns.

Overview of Tiraspol, capital of The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Pridnestrovie/Transnistria). We will discover the main highway here that is named 25th October Street. It crosses the center from east to west. We will go along the whole street by car. Visiting Tiraspol, you can say with confidence that you have been back in USSR!

There are several attractive buildings of the Stalin epoch and the magnificent building of House of Soviets with a spire. In this building city councils of Tiraspol, Dnestrovsk and a number of city and republican organs are situated. In front of the building one can see a monument to Lenin; hotel “Russia” (earlier - “Druzhba”) is on the opposite side of the street.

Great opportunity to feel and understand the authentic local life of Tiraspol

The 25th October Street leads to the Suvorov Square of the imposing size (700x400 meters) and is the heart of Pridnestrovie. It was built mainly in 1970-80s. Here one can find Tiraspol Cinema (1984), City House of Culture (1950), Children and Youth Creativity Center, and extremely expressive Monument to Suvorov (1979), an unofficial symbol of Pridnestrovie.

On the other side of the square is Memorial of Glory with a T-34 tank and a gold-domed chapel designed by Harry Fayfermaher (1942-2002). Buried here are liberators of Moldavia who fell in 1944 and the defenders of Pridnestrovie who protected from the troops of nationalistic Moldova in 1991-1992. Next to it is the monument to soldiers-internationalists who died in Afghanistan. Near the bridge are Francois de Wollant’s public garden and the Pridnestrovian Alley of Glory with the monuments to Catherine II and Francois de Wollant.

Near the square is an impressive Supreme Council (the building of the city committee with the flag of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic hovering over it and with the Monument to Lenin of pink granite in front of it). Today it also houses the Government of Pridnestrovie.

Lunch in the atmospheric cafe "Stolovka USSR", in the Soviet style. Lunch is optional, at the request of the guests.