The Miron Costin Monument (Monumentul cronicarului Miron Costin) is a bronze monument on Strada Cuza Vodă in central Iași, opposite the former Notre Dame de Sion Complex and close to the Vasile Alecsandri National Theater. Created by sculptor Wladimir C. Hegel and inaugurated in 1888, it commemorates Miron Costin, the 17th-century Moldavian chronicler, statesman, and author.
The project was initiated in 1887 by the Miron Costin Society, whose members included prominent cultural and political figures such as Mihail Kogălniceanu, Vasile Alecsandri, Titu Maiorescu, B. P. Hasdeu, and Vasile Pogor. The monument was financed through public contributions and fundraising events, with King Carol I among its major donors. Its location in the former Piața Pomului Verde was chosen near the site of Miron Costin’s former house in Iași.
Hegel depicted Costin standing in the dress of a Moldavian boyar, while architect Nicolae Gabrielescu designed the tall stone pedestal beneath him. Reliefs on the pedestal illustrate episodes from Costin’s life, including his arrest before his execution in 1691 and his presentation of a work on Moldavia and Wallachia at the court of Polish king John III Sobieski. The front inscription dedicates the monument to Miron Costin from a grateful Romanian nation.
Before construction of the monument, the remains identified as those of Miron Costin and his brother Velicico were brought from the Costin family burial place at Brănișteni-Barboși and deposited beneath the pedestal in June 1888. The monument was formally unveiled on September 30 of that year during a large public ceremony in Iași.
