Călărași, Moldova

Călărași (Romanian pronunciation: [kələˈraʃʲ] ^ⓘ) is a town in Moldova, founded in 1848.

Long ago, the word "călărași" meant "horsemen" (today the word is "călăreți"). The name of Călărași was inspired by a legend which tells that once, when Stephen III of Moldavia fought the Ottomans, he ordered a regiment of horsemen to stand guard. They fought the Ottomans, sacrificed themselves and, finally, won the battle.

Călărași was historically a Hassidic Jewish town: 4,593, or 89% of the population, were Jewish occupants in 1897. In 1905, 60 Jews were killed, 300 were injured and over 200 houses were burned down as part of the wave of Russian pogroms. Many of the survivors fled to nearby Chișinău or emigrated to Romania, Austria, Palestine and the United States. In 1930, 3,631 residents (76% of the population) were Jewish. The Jewish community had welfare organizations, a hospital, a Talmud Torah and a library among other community facilities.

In 2018, Dumitru Grosei released an ethnographic documentary in Romanian called "Călărași – A Land by the Gate of Heaven" focused on the town's cultural history and folklore.

The city is the administrative center of Călărași District; it also administers one village, Oricova.