Moldova摩尔多瓦

Curatorial Note

This gallery presents the national atlas tradition of the Moldavian SSR, a historical entity that existed from 1940 to 1991 within the Soviet Union. The tradition emerged within the broader Soviet cartographic framework, where republic-level atlases served both scientific and ideological purposes. The collection holds two atlases, spanning 1962 to 1990, both published in Russian. The first, the 1962 Atlas of the Ukrainian SSR and the Moldavian SSR, was issued in Moscow and included approximately 130 maps covering physical geography, economy, and population. A contemporary review in Mapy a Atlasy compared it with Polish voivodeship maps, noting its comprehensive scope. The second, the 1990 Atlas of the Moldavian SSR, was produced by the Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography under the USSR Council of Ministers, reflecting a more mature and detailed cartographic approach. These atlases were not merely reference works; they codified the republic’s territory, resources, and identity within the Soviet system. Their legacy lies in providing a baseline for post-independence Moldovan cartography, though they remain artifacts of a centralized, state-driven mapping tradition.