Alexei Mateevici

Alexei (or Alexie) Mateevici (; 27 March 1888 – 24 August 1917) was one of the most prominent Moldovan poets in Bessarabia.

Biography

He was born in the town Căinari, in Eastern Bessarabia, which was part of the Russian Empire, now in the Republic of Moldova. He grew up in Zaim, Căușeni. He studied at the theological school of Chișinău, and published his first poems (Țăranii (Peasants), Eu cânt (I sing), Țara (The Country)) in the newspaper Basarabia, where he also published two articles on Moldavian folklore. Mateevici later published several articles on religion in Moldavia.

Mateevici went on to study at the Theological Academy of Kyiv, from which he graduated in 1914. In that year he married Teodora Borisovna Novitski. He returned to Chișinău, and became a Greek language teacher at the theological school. In the summer of 1917 he wrote the lyrics for Limba noastră (Our Language), which has been the national anthem of Moldova since 1994. He also volunteered as a World War One Romanian front priest, at the battle of Mărășești.

File:Stamp of Moldova 247.gif

Mateevici on a 1998 stamp from Moldova; in the background are written quatrains from Limba noastră

He died a month later of epidemic typhus, and was buried at the Chișinău Central Cemetery. The street leading to the cemetery now bears his name.

File:Aleea Clasicilor Mateevici.jpg

Bust of Mateevici in the Alley of Classics, in Chișinău

Honours

• Monument to Simion Murafa, Alexei Mateevici and Andrei Hodorogea, opened in 1933

External links

• Museum Alexei Mateevici from Cainari