- Mileştii Mici
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For Mileştii Mici (winery), see Milestii Mici (winery).
Mileştii Mici is a commune in Ialoveni district, Moldova, composed of two villages, Mileştii Mici and Piatra Albă. It has a population of over 4,500 and is 18 km from Chişinău. For much of its history, the locals have extracted white stone from underneath the village. Several hundred kilometers of the underground extraction site exist today. Some of the shafts are used as cellars for storing Milestii Mici wines.
History
Mileştii Mici is an ancient Moldovan village, having been mentioned in ancient books and chronicles. Archeological research has found settlement remains from many different epochs and cultures, beginning in the tenth to eleventh millennium BC.
In 1870, Emmanuel Brihunet, the priest of "Saint Nikolai" church in Mileştii Mici, discovered some references about the village in old manuscripts, dating from 30 March 1528.
In these early modern chronicles it is mentioned that King Petru Rares gave his grandson, Lashko-Voda from Isnovet, three other villages, two of which were situated around Isnovet River.
Wine Cellars
Stretching for 250 km, of which only 120 km are currently in use, the Mileştii Mici cellar complex is also the largest in the world. In 2007 Mileştii Mici wine cellars were noted in Guinness World Records 2007 Yearbook, for having the largest (2 million) wine collections in the world.
Related links
Coordinates: 46°54′N 28°48′E / 46.9°N 28.8°E
Categories:- Communes of Ialoveni district
- Moldova geography stubs
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