The main highlight of the Parcul Catedralei is the city's main Moldovan Orthodox church, dating from the 1830s, with rich interior frescoes. The bell tower was originally built in 1836, but was destroyed after WWII and rebuilt in 1997.
Legend has it that the bell originally commissioned for this tower ended up in Bolhrad (in present-day Ukraine) thanks to a mix-up by a boozy bureaucrat in St Petersburg. Chişinău ended up with the much bigger bell earmarked for Bolhrad. It wouldn't fit in the church belfry, hence this bell tower was built to accommodate the bigger bell.