Guguță Café
47°1′35″N 28°49′38″E / 47.02639°N 28.82722°E
Guguță Café (Romanian: Cafeneaua „Guguță”) was a popular coffeehouse in the historical centre of Chișinău, Moldova. It was located in the Ștefan cel Mare Central Park.
History[edit]
The initial construction of the building took place between 1967 and 1969. It was originally designed by architects V. Kudinov and V. Zakharov to host a restaurant called Noroc. The restaurant remained open until 1976 when it was transformed into a coffeehouse.
The coffeehouse was rebuilt in 1979 by Sergei Lebedev and Nicon Zaporojan. As part of the redesign, a metal construction was hung on the original modernist façade and reversed concrete arches were added to the side of the building.[1] It was renamed Guguță Café in 1981 after the well-known children's book character. The entrance canopy symbolizes Guguță's hat.[2]
In 2010, the land under the building was controversially sold by the municipality to a company affiliated to Vladimir Plahotniuc.[3] In 2018, the Court of Appeal in Chișinău ruled that the new private owners can demolish Guguță Café and erect a multistorey building in its stead.[4]
The impending demolition of the coffeehouse and circumstances surrounding the multistorey building permit have inspired a broader pro-democracy protest movement called Occupy Guguță.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ "Restaurant Noroc (acum Cafeneaua Guguță)". Modernismul socialist în România și Republica Moldova. 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ "Cafenea Guguță". descoperiri urbane (in Romanian). 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ Esanu, Anatolie (2017-08-21). ""Finpar Invest", firmă controlată de Vladimir Plahotniuc, a vândut cafeneaua "Guguță" din centrul Capitalei". Ziarul de Gardă (in Romanian). Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ "ZdG: Soarta cafenelei "Guguță" din parcul central, DECISĂ de magistrați, după ce Plahotniuc a vândut-o". www.ziarulnational.md. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
- ^ Livadari, Arina (2018-11-20). ""#PermanentProtest, the game has just begun:" OccupyGuguta resistance group hung a banner at the Moldova-Luxembourg soccer match". Moldova.org. Retrieved 2021-03-07.