Two "former" buildings: the Choral Synagogue (now the Chekhov Theater) and the Talmud Torah Community School (now an apartment building)Stop at the corner and look at the building diagonally. The Chekhov Theater is in front of us, but it was once the site of the Great Choral Synagogue, the most famous of the 77 synagogues in Chisinau on the eve of World War II. In the modern building, only one wall of the synagogue is partially preserved.Built in 1913 for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, the Temple was large in size - a total area of 1,350 square meters. As is customary in the Choral Synagogue, a men's choir sang in it; at the opening, the anthem of the Russian Empire "God Save the Tsar" was sung. A special gift was prepared and sent to the royal family, a Torah scroll in gold and silver.The beautiful, representative building echoed some elements of the Temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue was built as a 3-story structure. There were seven to eight houses that had not survived around them, providing support services and accommodations for guests who might come from other regions of the province or empire.The Choral Synagogue is believed to have been the main house of worship in Chisinau from 1913 to 1940.The façade was in the Neomauritan style, and the dome vault was painted with a view of the starry sky with representations of zodiacal constellations. The opening took place in September 1913. The synagogue quarter became the Jewish center of Chisinau. Between 1918 and 1940, when Bessarabia was part of Romania, the building of the Choral Synagogue continued to function.In 1940, all Jewish structures were nationalized by the Soviet authorities. In 1945 the building was confiscated and given to the Russian Chekhov Theater. After 20 years the building was completely rebuilt (by R. Bekesevich), it was glazed, restored, and the interior rooms were almost completely rebuilt. Nowadays, Jewish organizations have set up Hanukkah in the theater square several times for the holiday of Hanukkah.Beyond was Talmud Torah, a religious school for boys from underprivileged families. The eclectic building with elements of neoclassicism was built in 1872 with charitable funds and in 1922 it was transformed into the school "Culture and Labor".The teaching was conducted in Hebrew. Here traditional Jewish education and elements of general education were given, and there were also craft classes. The children were provided with full boarding.This building is also notable for the fact that in 1919-1924 the Committee for Assistance to Jewish Victims of Pogroms in Ukraine was located here. The first Zionist circle in Kishinev consisted of teenagers whom he gathered in his barn. He was a man of wide interests and great social activism. He was one of the active opponents of a program proposed to the Zionist movement in 1903 by the British government, which envisioned the creation of a Jewish state called "Uganda" in present-day Kenya.In 1908. Bernstein-Cogan was among the founders of the Association of Doctors of Israel and participated in the organization of the Zionist movement in Russia.Go to the opposite side and between the hotels Radisson Blue on the left and Bristol on the right, walk toward the Cathedral, which is in the center of the park. We'll stop at a nearby corner, just before we reach the entrance to the cathedral - that's our point #3. We'll stop at a nearby corner, just before we reach the cathedral entrance .