Historic monuments represent the vastest category of monuments on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. In its widest sense, the notion of "historic monument" may be attributed to almost each of the monuments situated on the territory of a corresponding country. Hence, archeological monuments, fortified architecture, religious architecture, civil architecture or vestiges of painting and monumental sculpture may be considered as "monuments of historic value" or "monuments with historic traits". Since all these types of monuments are divided into separate categories, the following types of the monuments were included in the category of historic monuments:
- Edifices, which represent historic value, including houses, memorial houses, memorial estates and historic quarters
- Memorial or commemorative plaques or signs
- Steles
- Obelisks
- Funerary edifices and commemorative signs from the graves of prominent personalities
One of the richest categories proved to be the one dedicated to commemorative plaques. Although in the Republic of Moldova there are no any plaques dating from the antique epochs, the patrimony accumulated along the Middle Ages (XVIII, XIX and XXth centuries) is the most impressing one from the numerical perspective. The category "Edifices with historic value, memorial houses, dwellings, memorial estate and historic quarters" comprises a part of houses, preserved until today on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, which date back to the XIX-XXth centuries. Vestiges of the oldest edifices either were included into the category of "Archeological monuments" or "Fortified Architecture". The categories "Steles" and "Obelisks" are quite close in terms of their destination. Therefore, the separation was carried out in conformity with rigors of architectural typology of each monument in part. The category "Funerary edifices" has many points in common with various areas of monumental sculpture. In this case, categorization was carried out according to the following criteria: in the event that a work of art, executed on the grave of a prominent personality, may be considered a work of art of the greatest patrimonial artistic value, the corresponding object was included into the category of "Monumental sculpture" (statue, relief, bust, etc.) In other cases, and in particular in the case that a special attention was drawn to the value of the work or life of the deceased man, the object was included into the category "Funerary Edifices".
In terms of the subject-matter, "historic monuments" of the Republic of Moldova are linked to historic events of the country, to the prominent personalities of political, scientific and cultural life, to the commemoration of anniversaries of certain localities, results of technological progress, materialized in objects of material culture, frequently having symbolic connotations.
