This communication substantiates the value status of the family institution through the prism of the artistic world of the Russian prose of Moldova of the XIX–XX centuries as an integral part of its ethno-cultural heritage. The main attention is focused on the analysis of the specifics of the representation of traditional family values, the features of modeling family-marriage relations. The works of fiction consider the world of the Bessarabian family of the XIX century, the Soviet family of the XX century. In historical retrospect, the relationship between social changes and transformations of the institutions of marriage and family is shown, the significance and specificity of fiction in the study of the axiological features of the institution of the family is substantiated. Based on the analysis of literary texts, the family values of the Russian residents of Moldova are determined, the roles of family relations parents-children, husband-wife are determined, such as they should be in the traditional family system. The axiological analysis of the essence of family relations as an object of ethno-cultural heritage is carried out; its main socio-cultural functions are revealed, in particular, the preservation of cultural diversity. The axiological approach in this topic allows us to analyze the possibilities of a value vision and substantiation of the importance of ethno-cultural heritage. Based on the conducted research, the ethno-cultural heritage is defined as a basic value.