Sfatul Țării and the Council of Directors fled, while some of them were arrested and sentenced to death. On the same day, a secret meeting of Sfatul Țării decided to send another delegation to Iaşi and ask for help from Romania. The Romanian government of Ion I. C. Brătianu decided to intervene, and on , the 9th Romanian Army under Gen. Broşteanu entered Chişinău. The Bolshevik troops retreated to Tighina, and after a battle retreated further beyond the Dniester. For the first time in his history, Chişinău became the capital of an independent state on , when Sfatul Țării proclaimed the independence of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Interwar period Between 1918 and 1940 the center of the city undertook large renovation work. The Capitoline Wolf was opened in 1926 and in 1928 the Stephen the Great Monument, by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală, was opened. The first society of the Romanian writers in Chişinău was formed in 1920, among the members were Mihail Sadoveanu, Ştefan Ciobanu, Tudor Pamfile, Nicolae Dunăreanu, N.N.Beldiceanu, Apostol D.Culea. The first scheduled flights to Chişinău started on 24 June 1926, on the route Bucharest – Galaţi – Iaşi – Chişinău. The flights were operated by Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aérienne - CFRNA, later LARES. The airport was near Chişinău, at Bulgarica-Ialoveni. This first flight Chişinău-Bucharest was marked by the launch of a postal stamps. On 1 January 1919 the Municipal Conservatoire (the Academy of Music) was created in Chişinău, in 1927 - the Faculty of Theology, in 1934 the subsidiary of the Romanian Institute of social sciences, in 1939 - municipal picture gallery. The Agricultural State University of Moldova was founded in 1933 in Chişinău. The Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1939 by the sculptor Alexandru Plămădeală. Gurie Grosu was the first Metropolitan of Bessarabia. Viaţa Basarabiei was founded in 1932 by Pan Halippa and Misionarul in 1929. Radio Basarabia was launched on 8 October 1939, as the second radio station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company. Writer and Journalist Bessarabian Society took an institutionalized form in 1940. First Congress of the Society elected as president Pan Halippa as Vice President Nicolae Spătaru, and as secretary general Nicolae Costenco. In the interwar period mayors of Chişinău were Vladimir Herța, Teodor Cojocaru, I. Levinski, Vasile Bârcă, Gherman Pântea, Nicolae Bivol, Sebastian Teodorescu, Ion Negrescu, Constantin Ionescu, Dimitrie Bogos, Ion Costin, Alexandru Sibirski, Constantin Dardan, Vladimir Cristi,