Wooden church of Hirișeni

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Wooden church of the Dormition of Mary of Hirișeni is a religious building built in 1642. As of today, the church is preserved in the Village museum of Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The church was erected in 1642 by the people of Hirișeni, and was initially located in the Hîrjauca Monastery.

It was relocated to Hirișeni commune of Telenești District, where it was used until 1928, when a stone church has been erected in the commune. People continued to visit the wooden church as a place for paraklesis near the cemetery. By the beginning of the 21st century, the building was in a very bad state.

It had no roof, and the wooden walls were damaged by rain and snow. The Ethnography Museum of Chișinău started negotiating with the people of Hirișeni on the relocation of the building to the capital city. Eventually, they agreed, and the relocation took place in 2009, when the restoration work started.

The restoration project was supervised by architects Eugen Bâzgu and Sergiu Vornicov, and the work was performed by the same team that restored the wooden church of Palanca (Hîrjauca commune), Călărași District. The restoration team preserved as many original elements as possible, so they used...