Leova lies on the banks of the Prut, and its history can be tied to a specific date: on 26 August 1806, a document recorded the place as a market town. The entry notes its connection with traders who came to the fairs. Leova therefore has two points of reference: its location by the river and a history as a market town that is tangible in its connection with the fairs.
Museums and Historic Buildings
Leova’s History and Ethnography Museum is housed in a 19th-century building. It has two exhibition halls, and its collection is listed as comprising 10,798 objects. The building and collection highlight different aspects: one points to the period when it was built, the other to the size of the collection managed by the museum.
Leova’s building history also has specific dates. The Church of St. Paraskeva was built of stone in 1818. There is also a monument to fallen heroes in Leova’s Orthodox cemetery. The city thus brings together religious architectural history and a place of remembrance as distinct testaments to its past.
The archaeological monument “Valul lui Traian” stretches for 1,450 metres within the city of Leova. A travel account from March 2024 classifies the rampart as a Late Antique fortification and gives 1489 as the date of its first written mention. The Moldovan section of “Valul lui Traian de Sus” is 138 kilometres long in total and begins in Leova. The rampart originates in Romania; it then runs east through the districts of Cimișlia and Căușeni.
Wetlands, River and Routes
Leova District’s landscapes include several distinct, specifically named places. The “Lăpuşniţa” wetland in Sărata-Răzeşi covers 168 hectares. The “Buzgana” area, also known as “Lebăda albă”, lies near Leova; rare, legally protected floodplain plants grow there. The Sărata River is a tributary of the Prut. A travel account from March 2024 links the river to more than 60 ponds, including Sărata Nouă, Cneazevca, Caracui and Sărata Galbenă.
Tourist routes specify a series of places to visit. One runs from Borogani via Tigheci, Baiuş and Sărata-Nouă to Cazangic. Cazangic is 1.5 kilometres from the Chişinău–Cahul national road. A second route runs from Leova via Sărata and Rezeşi to Tomai. The tourist attraction “La moară” is also located on the route from Cantemir via Tigheci to Iargara.
Places and Architectural Heritage in Tigheci and Covurlui
The Codrii Tigheciului border the commune of Tigheci; the site of “Cetăţuia Cociulia”, once a Geto-Dacian fortress, lies there. Tigheci’s village museum is also associated with a historic building: it is housed in the early 19th-century manor of the boyar Buicliu. For travellers interested in history, an archaeological site and a museum in a manor house offer two distinct discoveries.
The wooden church “Sfântul Gheorghe” stands in Covurlui. Another building’s history concerns the church “Sfinţii Arhangheli Mihail şi Gavriil”: it was built in the Russian style in 1895, with Italian craftsmen involved in its construction. Old documents also mention that one half of the church was a monastery. This historical account adds an earlier religious use to the building’s history, without equating it with the church’s present-day status.
Discover more destinations: Glodeni District, Făleşti, Chisinau, Ștefan Vodă District, Causeni, Orhei District, Balti, Dubasari.
For the wider travel overview: Moldova.
