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#Exhibit of the Month

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The ceramic vessel set was discovered accidentally in October 2025 in the southwestern part of the village of Bălceana, Hâncești District, approximately 1.2 km from the Lăpușnița River. The archaeological materials were recovered by the National Archaeological Agency.

The ceramic assemblage consists of a large storage vessel (pithos) with a capacity of 20 litres (h = 39.2 cm; d = 35.0 cm), decorated with a raised band below the rim; a medium-sized bowl with a capacity of 2.5 litres (h = 16.9 cm; d = 23.2 cm); a medium-sized jug with a capacity of 0.6 litres (h = 12.0 cm; d = 13.4 cm); and the base of a jar-shaped vessel.

The coarse handmade pottery was produced using the coil-building technique, by stacking and shaping coils of clay prepared from a paste tempered with crushed fired clay (grog) and sand. The vessel surfaces are uneven and covered with a yellowish-red slip featuring black patches, while the core of the vessel walls is black in colour.

The three vessels preserved intact display well-defined biconical shapes, with their maximum diameter at the middle of the body and straight or slightly oblique rims with rounded edges. Pottery of this type is characteristic of the Early Medieval cultural area of the northern and northwestern Black Sea region, dating from the 5th to the 7th centuries. East of the Dniester River, on the territory of present-day Ukraine, analogous pottery is found in Penkovka-type settlements, while in the Carpathian-Dniester region it is characteristic of settlements belonging to the Costișa-Botoșana-Hansca cultural group.

Within the Prut-Dniester region, coarse biconical pottery is generally represented by fragments and only relatively rarely by complete vessels, such as those discovered at Hansca, Dănceni, Recea, Seliște, Păhărniceni, and other sites. This type of pottery constituted an indispensable component of the local material culture during the 5th-7th centuries. In this context, the discovery at Bălceana of an almost intact set of coarse biconical vessels represents a relatively rare find of considerable scientific importance.

According to certain hypotheses, the tradition of coarse biconical pottery dating to the 5th-7th centuries originated in the North Pontic region. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that these biconical ceramic vessels were the result of contemporary ethnocultural interactions, developing simultaneously across the vast territory extending from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dnieper River and the Seversky Donets.

Virtual Tour


Exhibitions

“Among posters and musical instruments”

June 27, 2019 - November 23, 2020

 
The exhibition Among posters and musical instruments is the result of the research and valorization of the collection of posters (about a thousand pieces) and musical instruments from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Through its approximately 80 posters and 50 musical instruments, selected according to a chronological, typological and diversity criteria, the museum institution fulfills its obvious function to preserve in time and valorize the cultural heritage which includes posters and musical instruments. Established over several decades during the 20th century from donations and acquisitions, the poster collection is a short chronicle of Moldovan musical events from the East of Prut between 1900-2010. It is a pioneering exhibition, the collection of musical posters being displayed for the first time, and aims to familiarize the public with the evolution of the musical poster as advertising support of documentary and artistic value, but also as a work of art. The diversity of the collection of musical instruments, some with particular memorial value, allows us to follow and fill in the creative biography of artists, but also the existence of a musical piece in time.

The evolution of the musical poster both chronologically and as composition, form and content was structured into four categories: the musical poster from the Tsarist period (1812-1918), the interwar period (1918-1944), the Soviet period (1944-1991) and the musical poster from the period of independence of the Republic of Moldova. The oldest music program poster in the collections of the museum dates back to the 19th century and it is an announcement of the concert of the baritone V. Anenkov at the Nobility Club in Chişinău on February 6, 1900. The musical poster of the interwar period, modest as number, is valuable through generous information, where we can identify musical events, valuable interpreters, and places where musical performances were given. The Soviet-era musical poster was different from the previous ones in color, but also in text, as they also had an ideological role. In the early 90ies of the 20th century, the poster is varied in shape, chromatics, rich in images (with pictures of performing artists), but modest as informative text.

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The most valuable category of musical posters is those of classical music (symphonic, choral, instrumental, vocal) represented by the most famous orchestras of the time: Symphonic Orchestra of the State Philharmonic, National Symphonic Orchestra of „Teleradio Moldova" Company, National Chamber Orchestra, Academic Chapel „Doina", etc. A special message is offered by the posters of the popular folk music orchestras, which contributed to preserving and promoting the folk music: „Mugurel", „Fluieraş", „Folclor", „Lăutarii", the ethnofolkloric group „Tălăncuţa" etc. The collection includes posters of music groups and interpreters of popular music „Noroc", „Orizont", „Plai", „Legenda", „Colinda" etc., as well as posters of various festivals, contests and tours. In the musical atmosphere of the exhibition there is a beautiful collection of musical instruments, some of them of memorial value: the violin of the famous Bessarabian Gheorghe Heraru (1853-1920) and the violin of the master Sergei Lunchevici (1934-1995). The elegance of the music is also transmitted by the pieces of clothing that belonged to some personalities who left an important page in the history of the musical culture of the Republic of Moldova.


 




Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
  

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#Exhibit of the Month

The ceramic vessel set was discovered accidentally in October 2025 in the southwestern part of the village of Bălceana, Hâncești District, approximately 1.2 km from the Lăpușnița River. The archaeological materials were recovered by the National Archaeological Agency...

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

menu
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC