Tiraspol is a regional hub of culture, economy, tourism, and light industry, such as furniture and electrical goods production.

The modern city of Tiraspol was founded by the Russian generalissimo Alexander Suvorov in 1792, although the area had been inhabited for thousands of years by varying ethnic groups.

Of no great importance in early times, in the second century BC it fell under the dominion of indigenous kings whose names appear on its coins.

[citation needed] In 56 AD, the Romans restored the city and made it part of the colonial province of Lower Moesia.

[citation needed] A series of its coins exist that feature heads of Roman emperors from Domitian to Severus Alexander.

[citation needed] Such ancient archeological remains are scanty, as the city site was built over by the great medieval fortress of Monocastro or Akkerman.

Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov is considered the founder of modern Tiraspol; his statue is the city's most distinctive landmark.

During that period almost all of its Jewish population died: they were slain in situ or deported to German Nazi death camps, and killed there.

[citation needed]On 2 September 1990, Tiraspol was proclaimed the capital of the new Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[citation needed] After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the territory east of the Dniester River declared independence as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), with Tiraspol as its capital.

[citation needed] On 1 July 2005, the Lucian Blaga Lyceum, a high school with Romanian as its language of instruction, was registered as a Transnistrian non-governmental establishment.

[citation needed] The tension increased in the summer of 2004, when the Transnistrian authorities forcibly closed the schools that taught using the Latin script.

[15][16][17] On 25 April 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several explosions were reported near the Ministry of State Security (Transnistria) in Tiraspol.

[18] On 17 March 2024, Transnistrian official press released a video allegedly[19] showing a Mil Mi-8 helicopter in poor condition and likely not in use,[20] not having been moved in over 13 years at the moment of the explosion,[19] in a military unit in Tiraspol being attacked and destroyed by a kamikaze drone.

[19] On the day of the incident, the Bureau for Reintegration of the Republic of Moldova called it an "attempt to provoke panic and fear in the region".

[19] On 8 January 2025, during the 2025 Moldovan energy crisis, a woman in Tiraspol died from carbon monoxide poisoning after using a gas water heater to shower without having a chimney.

The team gained world notoriety for their last-minute 2–1 victory during the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League edition against later tournament winners Real Madrid on 28 September 2021.