Local Administration of the city of Bendery
The history of the town of Bendery dates back to ancient times. (III century BC) The territory of our region has always been in the center of historical events in South-East Europe. Primitive people engaged in hunting and collecting appeared here some hundreds thousand years ago. Soon the flourishing civilization of Stone Age replaced them. Archeological researches proved that Getic tribes had been the first settlers of the town. Their traces were found near the Bendery Fortress, villages Kitskany and Varnitsa. Getic tribes were engaged in farming, cattle-breeding, trading to Greeks and Romans.
In III-IV centuries BC Thracians, later Scythians, and other tribes lived here. The traces of their culture were found within the territory of the town and surrounding villages. Chernyahovskaya culture was formed under the influence of late Roman culture.
Between the end of V-th century and beginning of VI-th century AD Slavic tribes were settling here. Different nomadic tribes passed Dniester territory in the following centuries. In the middle of the 13-th century Mongols and Tatars invaded our region. They had been dominating by 1345. In the first half of the 14-th century Mongols and Tartars were forced to leave the region by Hungary, being in great power at that time. In 1359 the independent Moldavian Principality headed by Bogdan (a former vassal of the king of Hungary) arose as a result of the rebellion of the local population against the superiority of Hungary.
At the end of the 15-th century the Moldavian principality included lands between the Karpaty Mountains and the Black Sea with the river Dniester as its eastern boarder. Our town served as the customs. The town was first mentioned under the name Tyagyanyakyachya in the official document of the Moldavian leader Aleksander Dobry that was given to merchants. From the second half of the 15-th century it was known as Tigina.
The Moldavian State was flourishing during the reign of Shtephan III the Great. Diplomatic, economic and cultural relations with neighbor states were established.
In the 14-th-15-th centuries Turkey strengthened its power. The process of submission of the Moldavian principality to the Ottoman Empire started. In 1538 Turks captured Tigina after some severe battles. The town and 18 neighboring villages were turned into the Turkish Raya (the Christian area subordinate to Muslim Turkey). The town became one of the strong points for the struggle of Turkey against Russia because of its important strategic position on the bank of the Dniester not far from the Black Sea. The construction of the fortress started according to the plan of the famous Turkish architect Sinan Ibn Abdul Minan. The town and fortress were renamed into Bendery. (a borrowing from Persian – “harbour, port”)
The fortress was built according to models of western European fortresses-bastions. It was enclosed with a high earthen wall and a deep moat that had never been filled with water. It consisted of three parts: upper, lower parts and a citadel. A trading quarter was situated on the South-Western side of the fortress.
In the middle of the 16-th century Moldavia had been completely enslaved by Turkey, but Moldavians continued struggling against their enslavers. In winter of 1540 Moldavians under the command of their leader Koren A. besieged the Bendery fortress, but couldn’t capture it. In 1574 the sovereign Vode-Luty together with Cossacks besieged the fortress, captured the trading quarter, but they didn’t manage to siege the fortress. Twenty years later Zaporozhian Cossacks headed by Lboda G. and Nalivaiko S. tried to siege the fortress; the trading quarter was completely burnt, but the fortress hadn’t been captured.
As a result of triumphant wars of Russia against Turkey (XVIII-XIX) Bendery fortress was thrice captured by the Russian army. On September 15, 1770 after a two-month siege the fortress was attacked by the Russian army under the command of General Panin P.I. A regiment of Cossacks (where the future leader of rebellion of peasants – Pugachev E. fought) took part in the siege. The fortress was captured after the severe bloody battle. Over six thousand Russians and five thousand Turks were killed in the course of the siege and attack. As a result of that war the Kuchuk-Kainadzhirsky Peace was signed. Bendery and the fortress passed to Turkey again.
On November 4, 1789 the fortress capitulated after the brilliant victory of Russian troops under the command of Suvorov A.V. near the river Rymnik. The Russian Army gained a victory over Turks owing to skilful actions of the commander of the cavalry Kutuzov M.I. who destroyed three thousands Turks near Bendery. Turks presented the keys from the fortress to General Potemkin-Tavrichesky, whose tent was on Borisovsky hill in the North-West from the fortress.
In 1791 the left-bank region passed to Russia according to Yassky peace treaty. The right-bank area of Moldavia, including Bendery fortress passed to Turkey again. Russia got the way to the Black Sea through the Dniester.
Bendery was finally liberated after the war of Russia against Turkey in November, 1806. The fortress capitulated to Russian troops under the command of General Meiendorf without great resistance.
The territory between the Prute and Dniester passed to Russia according to the Peace of Buharest signed by Kutuzov on May 16, 1812. Later the territory was called Bessarabia.
After the formation of the Bessarabian guberniya (province) Bendery was proclaimed the chief town of uyezd (district). The town was built according to a certain plan: at the distance of 500 m to the South from Bendery fortress eight wide streets were laid out along the Dniester, eight streets were laid out perpendicular to the river. At first, military men, military officials and clerks, later Old Believers and serfs settled in the town. In 1818 almost five thousand people lived in Bendery.
The construction of Preobrazhensky Cathedral started on the place of Turkish barracks. It was planned as a symbol of liberation of the region from the Turkish yoke. The central dome of the cathedral was made in the shape of the helmet of an ancient Russian warrior. The plan of the cathedral was worked out by the Archimandrite Ioanikey, the member of Kishinev theological eparchy. On September 29, 1827 Grace Dmitriy consecrated the cathedral, but it was still under construction. The cathedral wasn’t painted till 1934. The cathedral’s walls were painted by the Moldavian sculptor and painter Plemedyale .
“The coat of arms of Bendery, Bessarabian Guberniya, was confirmed by His Imperial Majesty on April 2, 1826. The shield is divided into two fields. In the upper golden field there is a double-headed eagle with a gold crown on its head, lightening in each paw and a shield on its breast, where St. Great Martyr, Triumphant George who is stabbing a snake with the spear is depicted on horseback. In the lower black field a lying lion is depicted in memory of a difficult position of the Swedish King Karl XII in this area after the Poltavian Battle”.
In 1870 the railway Razdelnaya_- Bendery – Kishinev; later Bendery – Reny was built. Some branches of industry and trade were developing, railway workshops were being built, and the number of workers was increasing at that time. The number of population had increased from 22 000 (in 1861) to 60 000 (in 1915).
Bessarabia and Bendery were involved in the revolutionary events between the end of the 19-th and the beginning of the 20-th centuries. In 1917 the first Soviet of workers and soldiers’ deputies was established there.
But it hadn’t been under the Soviet power for a long time. In February, 1918 Romanian troops occupied Bessarabia. Almost 500 persons were shot at “Black fence” near rail workshops after the two-week defence of the town by workers. The economy and industry had gone into a decline, the number of the population were on the decrease. On May 27, 1919 the armed rebellion against the government terror broke out.
On June 28, 1940 the region and the town of Bendery were liberated from the Romanian occupation. Bendery became a part of the Moldavian SSR. The economy was being developed at a great rate. Old enterprises were updated, new factories and mills were built. But a year later (on June 22, 1941) the Great Patriotic war broke out. The German-Romanian occupation of Bendery had lasted for three years. It was liberated in the course of the Yasskaya – Kishinev operation. The town was completely destroyed. But it was rebuilt in a short time thanks to hard work of Bendery-dwellers and assistance of republics of the USSR. It became one of the most beautiful towns of Moldavia.
Enterprises of light, food, electric engineering, wood-working industries started functioning in Bendery in the ’60-s. It was reflected in a new coat of arms of Bendery, established in 1967. The coat of arms has a shape of a shield where a wall of the old fortress and blue waves of the Dniester as the evidence of the past; a loom and a cogwheel as symbols of important industries are depicted. There is a rose (as a symbol of eternal prosperity) in the center of the coat of arms.
In the middle of the ’80-s the town achieved a great progress in the social and economic development.
But political events of the ’90-s and disintegration of the USSR affected the history of Bendery. In the summer of 1992 the town was attacked by police forces and regular army of the Republic of Moldova. A great number of town-dwellers were killed, the town was damaged. In 1995 the town was awarded the highest reward – The Order of the Republic – for courage and heroism of Bendery-dwellers.
The town of Bendery is the part of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic; it is subordinate to the Republic.
The local administration is guided by the Constitution and Law of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, resolutions of Soviets of people’s deputies and the Government of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic; it has an executive power within its competence.
The activity of the local administration is based on its commissions in the field of maintenance supply, budgetary financing, the municipal property and local economy; use and protection of soil and environment; construction, agriculture, industry, housing, municipal economy, trade and services; keeping public order and civil rights, freedoms and legal interests.
The local administration consists of 10 boards and 13 departments; each of them has its own functions depending on the direction of activity. Their work is based on long-term planning considering main town social, political, public, cultural and educational events.
Some commissions: administrative, economic, on housing, on privatization, on land estates, on municipal economy, on cases of underage persons, on rehabilitation, on balance, on awards) and Councils (charity, of guardians, town-planning, coordinative for prevention of offences) were established in the local administration.
The Town Head and his assistants receive persons and representatives of public organizations of the town.
The local administration was established in 1992. The total number of the population of Bendery is 133 400 people, land – 9 729 hectares.
There are 88 state enterprises: 57 enterprises of light and food industries, electrical engineering, machine building, construction, etc; 33 municipal enterprises (12 enterprises of the housing municipal economy, 5 – of consumer service and 6 trade enterprises).
Almost 800 private business ventures and over 2000 entrepreneurs do their bit in development of the economy. The average annual number of workers engaged in different branches of the economy is 31 656 (in 2001) and 5 342 engaged in private entreprise. A share of Bendery in overall production of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is 16, 5% (in comparable prices) and 11, 2% (in real prices). Twelve communications enterprises functioned in Bendery at the beginning of 2002.
44 dwelling houses, 9 kilometers of highways and 5, 7 kilometers of water-pipe, 3 kilometers of gas-main has been built and put into operation for 12 years. A memorial dedicated to the events of 1992, a museum of local history, lore and economy, a monument to soldiers-internationalists were open. The program on routine and major repairs was adopted. Water supply and heat supply networks are steadily being repaired now. Central streets and a town market are being improved.
A number of medical institutions and a medical-diagnostics center were established; 70 public educational institutions are functioning (25 secondary schools, 6 vocational schools, 10 further educational institutions and 33 nursery schools). The establishment of the military school and Bendery filiation of PSU (construction) was a great achievement.
There are 12 public libraries, 6 museums, 8 clubs, 7 sports schools (2 899 pupils) and 2 health camps in Bendery.
The social security department (83 employees) renders assistance to single old and disabled men (380 persons).
The revenue of the local budget is 25 202, 3 thousand rubles, the expenditure is 25 162, 3 thousand rubles.
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, Bendery, Lenin Street, 17.
Phone: 373 532 23050; 373 532 23051Fax: 373 532 22086