#Exhibit of the Month

It is a sports trophy obtained at an inter-school oina (a bat-and-ball game) competition in interwar Bessarabia. We don't know which schools participated in this competition, nor the venue, we only know that one of the winners received the second prize and that the event was held on May 13, 1934. In this way we learn about the existence of different sports competitions organized by schools, including the oina game. Oina is a beautiful and complex sports game that promotes the development of body and spirit, courage and the desire for self-improvement. Oina is a treasure of the Romanian people, which must be sacredly kept and passed on to future generations.

The oină or hoina game is considered a Romanian national sports game having a history of at least six centuries. The oina game is practiced continuously, according to the chronicles and deeds of the time at least from the 14th century, being mentioned for the first time in 1364, during the reign of Vlaicu Vodă. The game requires complex sports qualities (good running speed, fast reflexes in self-defense movements against the balls, accuracy in throwing and hitting the ball with a bat or stick). Oina is a sport that identifies us to the same extent as trânta, our national wrestling. The game becomes attractive among young people in the villages, enters the school curriculum through physical education lessons. Through the Education Reform of 1898, as well as through other ministerial decisions, Education Minister Spiru Haret introduces the compulsory oina lessons in all schools, as well as the annual oina competitions.

On May 9, 1899, in Bucharest, the first national oina championship was organized, the teams being made up of high school students. The winner was the team of Nicolae Bălcescu High School from Brăila.

In 1912, the Federation of the Romanian Sports Society (Bucharest) was created, which consisted of 13 sports commissions including the oina commission.

After the Union of 1918, the Federation of the Romanian Sports Society was reorganized in 1923, including the other oina sports commissions of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia.

In 1932, the Romanian Oina Federation was founded.

National Museum of History of Moldova

Rescue archaeological research at Piata Veche of Chisinau in 2012

During April-May 2012 researchers from Archaeology sectors of NMAHM carried out rescue archaeological investigations in the historical center of Chisinau, at Piata Veche (Old Market), 10.

Here during the digging the foundation pit for the construction of a multistoried building, there were damaged, and largely destroyed cultural layers from the medieval and pre-modern age, several housing complexes, workshops, household and domestic pits of the Chisinau fair.

Note that the micro-area in which surveys were conducted for archaeological discharge of the land is part of the historic core of Chisinau (no. 308 in the register of monuments protected by the State of the Republic of Moldova), and from the protection of the Armenian Church of Virgin Birth of Lord (No. 23 in the Register), built between 1803-1804, which sites are protected by state national category.

As a result of archaeological investigations there have been cleaned wall remnants of the old cellars and foundations of buildings from the medieval and pre-modern age. It was highlighted by the embankment and scientifically documented the stratigraphy of the historical development of Chisinau from the mid seventeenth century until modern times. Two complexes were investigated, one of which (L.-A.1) have walls from wood with an annex that was formed by the remains of a craft kiln destroyed by the blades of bulldozers; remains of another kiln and several waste pits. In these complexes there was found an impressive collection of tools and pieces, decorated tiles with Byzantine double-headed eagle image, candlesticks, various pottery or glass, belonging to the mentioned period. Also there were found many coins of brass or white metal, of Tatar, Turkish and Russian provenance, which allows to determine the exact chronology of remains investigated in the rescue excavations.

Archaeological materials found in the Old Market area of Chisinau come to complete with new and striking evidence, the little information that reached up nowdays from written documents or travelers sparse mentions of foreign travelers (Niccolo Barsi, Evlia Celebi etc.). They enable us to reconstruct, closer to social and economic realities, the emergence and development stages of the old town near the Mazaraki hill, the repository of historical artifacts particularly important for understanding our past.