Bust of Ioan Vodă the Brave

Bust of Ioan Voda the Brave (1572-1574)
It was inaugurated in 1989. The author of the bust is the sculptor V. Kuznetsov. Ioan Vodă is the ruler of Moldavia in the period 1572-1574, which was noted for the memorable battle of Cahul on June 10, 1574, after which, betrayed by the boyars, he fell prey to the Turks, being then brutally killed by Janissaries, and the Moldavian army slaughtered by the Ottomans. He was a gentleman with mercy towards the people and harsh towards the boyars. That is why he was nicknamed "the terrible" by the boyars, "the brave" by the people. Ioan Vodă the Brave, was one of the lords of Moldova who defended the independence of the Moldavian people from the claims of the Ottoman Empire.