#Exhibit of the Month

The Chișinău Diocesan Girls' School opened its doors on May 3, 1864, addressing a pressing need: in Bessarabia there were no institutions dedicated to the education of clergy's daughters. According to the 1864 circular, teaching was conducted in the Romanian language, a provision applied throughout the diocese. The school's first headmistress was Anastasia Rizo, of noble origin, invited by Archbishop Antonie.

The curriculum, approved by the Ministry of Public Education and the Chișinău Diocese, combined theoretical subjects with practical training. Students studied religion, reading and writing in Romanian, Slavonic, and Russian, arithmetic and exercises in calculation, world history and geography. The program was complemented by church singing and practical skills such as sewing, embroidery, knitting, as well as household management - baking bread and prosphora, preparing meals and preserves, caring for livestock, and cultivating gardens.

The composite, taken in 1911 at the studio of Z. N. Sumovski in Chișinău, depicts 29 graduates and 13 teachers. At the center are portraits of Bishop Serafim (Ciciagov), headmistress N. R. Mihelson, teacher V. E. Bejerian, and priests F. Ghiliarov and P. Jurikas. Among the teaching staff was Paraskovia Vasilievna Cuciurenko, a calligraphy teacher for 37 years, who in 1911 became senior educator and assistant headmistress. For her dedication, she was awarded the gold medal "For Long Service."

On the reverse of the vignette is a label from the store and workshop of frames, paintings, mirrors, and window glass owned by A. D. Kon'gova, Chișinău, Gogol Street no. 37, near the State Bank.

This graduation composite was donated at the end of 2025 to the National Museum of History of Moldova by the Dadiștian family from Drochia.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

"Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN – 100 years since his birth"

13 April – 24 May 2023

The exhibition is dedicated to the illustrious archaeologist Emanuil Rikman, former scientific researcher at the Academy of Sciences of the Moldovan SSR (1952-1968) and professor of archeology at the State Pedagogical University "Ion Creangă" (1955-1958) and the Moldova State University (1958, 1961-1966).

Emanuil Rikman is one of the fathers of ancient archeology in the Republic of Moldova. He carried out extensive research on the archeology of the Roman era, promoted investigations on the Romanization of the Geto-Dacians, carried out large-scale studies at sites from the ancient period and the Middle Ages, including at the sites of Budești, Bălțata, Sobari, Comrat, Costești, etc.

He promoted studies on traditional Romanian culture in Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, conducted ethnographic field research in Northern Moldova. He has published more than 110 studies of archeology and ethnography. He contributed to the formation of the archaeological school in the MSSR.

Emanuil Rikman was born on January 10, 1923 in Berdichev, Reg. Zhitomir, Ukraine, died in 1987, being buried in Moscow.

The exhibition "Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN - 100 years since his birth" aims to commemorate and pay tribute to the scientist Emanuil Rikman by exposing to the general public some documentary materials related to the fruitful activity of the late researcher and pedagogue.

The exhibition includes 2 types of exhibits: documentary materials related to the personality of Emanuil Rikman and various archaeological pieces discovered by Emanuil Rikman, currently kept in the patrimonial funds of NMHM.

The documentary materials are copies extracted from Emanuil Rikman's personal archive, archaeological reports from the NMHM archive, the scholar's monographs, photographic images from archaeological sites and Emanuil Rikman's ethnographic expeditions on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Part of the documentary materials for the organization of the exhibition were provided by the Faculty of History of the MSU and the National Archaeological Agency.

The archaeological vestiges on display represent original pieces from Emanuil Rikman's excavations from the sites of Budești, Comrat, Bălțata, Caracușenii Noi, etc. The exhibition presents archaeological pieces made of ceramics, bronze, copper, silver, glass, bone, etc., dated in the II-IV centuries, including pots-jars, cups, jugs, bowls, Roman amphorae, brooches, beads, pendants, objects toilet etc.

The exhibition "Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN - 100 years since his birth" can be visited during 13 April - 24 May 2023, in the upstairs hall of the National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 str., 121A.