Moldova
National Atlases
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.
Versions and Their Documents
Contemporary and Later Comment
- Journal Article1963Mapy a Atlasy: Atlas Ukrajinskoj SSR i Moldavskoj SSR
K. Kucař
This paper reviews the Atlas of the Ukrainian SSR and Moldavian SSR, published in Moscow in 1962. Edited by B. G. Bondarchuk, Director of the Institute of Geography of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, this medium-sized regional atlas contains approximately 130 maps at various scales. Its content covers physical geography, industry, agriculture, and economic regionalization, with economic-administrative district maps at 1:1,500,000 scale providing detailed regional economic structures. The atlas includes brief introductory texts, development prospects to 1980, and detailed commentaries on selected maps. The author considers the atlas to be of high cartographic quality and informational value, offering useful reference for the compilation of the Czechoslovak national atlas.
- Journal Article1964Integrated regional geographic atlases
K. A. Salishchev
The author reviews work on atlases of Soviet republics and oblasts published in 1961–64, containing maps on physical geography, population, economy and culture. He finds that these atlases suffer from a lack of practical purposefulness and inadequate coordination. These weaknesses are to be remedied in a new coordinated project of natural-resource atlases of the major republics and economic regions of the USSR initiated in 1963.
From the Physical Collection
Photographs are being prepared for this hall.