National Hotel (Chișinău)

Soviet era

The Intourist Hotel was constructed in Chișinău, then the capital of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, and finished in 1974[1] or 1978.[2] It was designed by the architects A. Gorbuntsov and V. Shalaginov.[1] After its opening, the 17-story socialist modernist building "became a proud symbol of the Soviet Union's embrace of modernity", according to The New York Times. The four-star hotel was run by the Soviet state-owned travel monopoly of the same name, and it served as one of their flagship properties.[2] It was primarily booked by foreign visitors and Soviet celebrities.[3]

Moldovan era

Intourist pulled out of Moldova after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Intourist hotel was taken over by MoldovaTur, a former Soviet and newly Moldovan state-owned company in 1992.[1][2] It was renamed the National Hotel at this time. Guest bookings dropped significantly after the 1992 Transnistria War.[2] In 1999, MoldovaTur agreed to sell the hotel to the Israeli company Avi Awaks for US$1.55 million, but the deal fell through.[4]

MoldovaTur was purchased by the private company Alfa Engineering in 2006.[1][2] Although the company promised to invest in the National Hotel, the building was left to decay as its ownership continued to change multiple times and the