Tiraspol

Introducing Tiraspol

Tiraspol (from the Greek, meaning ‘town on the Nistru’), 70km east of Chişinău, is the second-largest city in Moldova – sorry, make that the largest city and capital of Trans­dniestr! Although it’s as Soviet-licious as they come and still a candidate for World’s Largest Open-Air Museum, nevertheless MTV and Red Bull are making their presence felt. Not surprisingly, the have/have-not divide is glaring. Entering the outskirts from Bendery, you’re confronted by the behemoth state-of-the-art football and sports stadiums and a five-star hotel (under construction at the time of writing). Built at a cost of untold hundreds of millions of dollars by Viktor Gushan, owner of the Tiraspol Sheriff football team, its intended customer base is still unclear. Locals who are lucky to earn $100 a month certainly won’t be checking in soon, or even attending many games for that matter, and few visiting teams will be able to afford the rates.

The city was founded in 1792 following Russian domination of the region. Its population is predominantly Russian (41%), with ethnic Ukrainians comprising 32% and ethnic Moldovans 18% of the population.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009