Căușeni, a Tatar market town with a sunken church

Căușeni is a district town of about 13,500 inhabitants (2024 census) on the river Botna, 73 kilometres south-east of Chișinău. First mentioned in 1455, it was the centre of the Budjak Tatars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Its main monument is the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God, which lies partly below ground level and preserves old wall paintings.

Why go

Căușeni has a building with few equals in Moldova: the Adormirea Maicii Domnului church, built half into the ground and painted inside. It is the oldest surviving building in the town, and its wall paintings are described as the country's only surviving medieval frescoes. The town also lies on the route to the Ștefan Vodă wine region.

History and character

A charter of 6 June 1455 names the place Cheșenăul Roșu. In 1535 twelve villages in this area came under Ottoman control, and the place was given the name Căușeni. It became a market town and, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the centre of the Budjak Horde, the Tatars who ruled the steppe in the south. In the early eighteenth century the representative of the Crimean khan resided here. In 1710 an embassy of the Swedish king Charles XII, then staying in Bender, passed through the town.

The church lies more than 90 centimetres below ground level, so you go down a few steps as you enter. It was restored around the mid-1760s, when the Metropolitan of Proilavia had a residence here. A stretch of the Valul lui Traian, an ancient earthen defensive rampart, also runs through the town.

What to see and do

The Adormirea Maicii Domnului church, with its sunken nave and wall paintings.
Other churches in the town, such as that of Saints Peter and Paul.
Traces of the Valul lui Traian, after which a district of the town is also named.
The Botna valley, which cuts through the town.

Eating, drinking and sleeping

Căușeni has simple restaurants and cafés and a market. For overnight stays most visitors choose a wine estate in the Ștefan Vodă region or return to Chișinău. The villages in the district make wine for their own use; ask about it at the market.

Practical information and tips

The drive of about 73 kilometres takes roughly an hour and a half; the usual route stays outside the Transnistrian area around Bender. Buses and minibuses run from Chișinău; the railway station is 3 kilometres outside the town. The church is not always open, so ask locally or at the parish about access, and wear covering clothes, with shoulders and knees covered.