#Exhibit of the Month

The exhibit represents a fragment from a unique amphora discovered in 1988 in a ceramic kiln from the Chirileni III settlement (Sîngerei district), attributed to the Cucuteni-Tripolie archaeological culture stage CII (5th-4th millennia BC).

The ceramic fragment with painted human and geometric representations constitutes about 50% of the upper part of an amphora, made of clay paste without impurities. It is burned in an oxidizing environment, with a reddish color in the section. The inner surface of the vessel is covered with a pink-whitish color layer, and the smoothed and polished exterior is covered with a yellowish-gray engobe start. The body of the amphora is spheroidal with four pyramidal cakes on the shoulder, and the neck is high frustoconical with a short outwardly turned lip. The dimensions of the bowl: lip diameter - 18 cm; maximum body diameter - 43-45 cm; neck height - 13 cm; height of exposed fragment - 43 cm; the estimated total height of the vessel is 55-60 cm. Thickness at the lip - 6-7 mm, at the neck - 9-11 mm, and at the body - 10-13 mm.

The outer surface of the amphora in a proportion of about 4/5, except for the lower part, is bicolorly decorated with black and brown paint, the brush being used as a tool, which can be felt from the specific application of the lines. Two brushes were most likely used. The ornament is divided into three horizontal registers that surround the vessel dividing the interior into metopes. The decoration is composed of lines arranged vertically, horizontally or obliquely forming geometric compositions of the net type.

The special significance of the amphora resides in the representation in the middle register of the painting of the stylized scene of a female ritual dance. The scene painted on the body of the amphora represents the image of a group made up of 9 female characters assisted by two dogs and 3 snakes. The female images are represented schematically, with the emphasis on long legs, mini-trapezoidal skirts, short stretched bodies, folded dancing hands and pointed heads.

Vessels with painted anthropomorphic representations are very rare, being around 140 images of this kind known so far in the entire area of spread of the Cucuteni-Tripoli culture.

Based on the analysis of the shape of the vessel, the specific decoration and the context of the discovery, it can be admitted that the amphora from Chirileni belongs to the cult of the Mother Woman, the Great Goddess worshiped by the Eneolithic populations.

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Exhibitions

“Academician Alexei Shchusev. Life and Works" 150 years since the birth

Within the European Heritage Days

September 28 – October 15, 2023

The exhibition is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of the famous architect Alexei Shchusev, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

The future architect and academician was born on September 26, 1873 in Chisinau. He graduated from Male Gymnasium no. 2 in Chisinau (1891) and the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg (1897).

After the successful restoration of St. Basil Church in Ovruch, he was awarded the title of academician of architecture (1910).

He was a teacher at the Vkhutemas Art School (1918-1926), president of the Moscow Architectural Society (1921-1929), director of the Tretyakov Gallery (1926-1929). In 1946, he was appointed director of the Museum of Russian Architecture in Moscow, which today bears his name.

In 1947, in the house where he was born and raised, the Museum of Architecture and Construction Technologies of the City of Chisinau was opened, renamed after the death of the architect into the House Museum of Alexei Shchusev (1949).

The exhibition "Academician Alexei Shchusev. Life and Works" brings together about 150 museum showpieces from the holdings of the National Museum of History of Moldova: works of art, photographs, documents, books, objects of numismatics and philately, other relics intended to reconstruct unknown pages from the life and activity of the famous architect.

At the beginning of his career, Alexei Shchusev was inspired by religious themes. Among the many monuments designed by the architect, one can admire the Church of the Holy Trinity in the village of Cuhurestii de Sus of the Republic of Moldova.

Design projects for the Square of the Cathedral, the Chisinau Theater, the Government House, the quarter of the State University of Moldova, the Măzărache and Râșcani hills, the banks of the Bîc River presented to visitors for the first time are just some of the projects developed by academician Alexei Shchusev, which were to be brought to life within the framework of the Urban Plan for the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation of Post-War Chisinau. Unfortunately, they did not progress beyond the project stage.

The exhibition is conceived as a tribute to the famous architect and academician on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth. It is addressed to specialists in the field, as well as to the general public interested in the life and work of Alexei Shchusev.