Porțile Orașului

What you see

The two towers stand like sentries on both sides of the broad boulevard in the Botanica district. Their stepped silhouette makes them recognisable from afar: if you drive from the airport to the centre, you see them long before you reach them, and if you leave the city, you drive between them as a final farewell. They are ordinary residential buildings, with flats, balconies and shops nearby; there is no museum or viewpoint.

You may know the idea of a city gate made of residential towers from Belgrade, where a similar concept exists. In Chișinău it took on a form of its own. The buildings are close to the zoo and the botanical garden, so a visit is easy to combine.

History

In the 1970s and 1980s Chișinău grew fast. New housing estates went up around the old centre, and planners wanted to give the main approach roads a recognisable face. On the road to the airport, that took the form of these twins. Together with the State Circus, the Eternitate memorial complex and countless blocks of flats, they belong to the period that architecture enthusiasts now study as socialist modernism.

For a long time such buildings were little appreciated. In recent years interest has been growing, among photographers and in architecture guides to the Soviet city, for instance. The Porțile Orașului have become a classic photo subject.

Tips for your visit

• You get the best view from some distance, with both towers in the frame at once. One architecture blogger recommends looking back towards the city from the grass strip in the middle of the boulevard; watch out for the heavy traffic.
• Choose morning or evening light; in the middle of the day the light flattens the stepped façades.
• Buses and trolleybuses run from the centre along Bulevardul Dacia; a taxi costs little.
• Be respectful towards the residents: these are still homes.

You will find a short description at Hype and Hyper.