Sculeni

Sculeni (, Skulen) is a commune in Ungheni District, Moldova. It is composed of four villages: Blindești, Floreni, Gherman and Sculeni. It sits on the Prut river which separates the Republic of Moldova from the omonimous region of Romania and has a border checkpoint to Romania. Across the Prut is a village also called Sculeni, with the Romanian side of the border checkpoint. At the 1930 census, Sculeni village consisted of three parts: Sculenii-Târg ("Sculenii Market", also known as Sculenii Noi, "New Sculeni") on the left bank of the Prut, and the two parts of Sculenii Vechi ("Old Sculenii", ori Sculeni village), on the right bank and the left, respectively.

==History== On 22 February 1821 (O.S.), at the start of the Greek War of Independence, Filiki Eteria leader Alexander Ypsilantis, accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service, crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities, two days before proclaiming at Iaşi that he had "the support of a great power" (meaning Russia). thumb|Alexander Ypsilantis (1792–1828)|Ypsilantis crossing the Prut at Sculeni on 22 February 1821 (O.S.)