Bus-shelter mosaic, Onițcani

A monumental bus shelter clad entirely in mosaic on the edge of Onițcani, a village in the Criuleni district of central Moldova, near the Dniester valley. This is no ordinary roadside stop but a large open pavilion with two gabled roofs whose pediments are covered in silver-grey tesserae and rosette-, star- and sun-disc medallions, edged with a lacy cornice. The inner walls are faced in terracotta tesserae in shades of brick-red, ochre, grey and slate-blue, with an epic-folkloric figurative programme: horsemen and warriors, a man holding a sun-wheel disc, peasants and a woman in folk costume among stylised plant motifs. The six photographs (Gganebnyi, CC BY-SA 4.0, geotagged at 47.1483, 29.0813; and Vladikh, CC BY 4.0) show the same structure from several angles. The artist and year are unrecorded, but the scale and ambition of the work place it among the most impressive mosaic bus stops in Moldova. Onițcani is first documented on 20 May 1604 and had 2,192 inhabitants at the 2014 census; the village is also known for its mineral springs, a protected natural monument.

Track

Central Moldova (Codru)

Neighborhood

Onițcani, r. Criuleni

Building

Stație de așteptare cu mozaic, Onițcani, r. Criuleni

Photos: Gganebnyi (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Vladikh (CC BY 4.0)