#Exhibit of the Month

This clay vessel was discovered in 1982 by archaeologist V. Sorochin during excavations of a burial mound (no. 1) located in the village of Speia, Dubăsari District. It originates from grave no. 5 and is dated to the 4th millennium BC, belonging to the Usatovo culture.
The vessel was found in a child's grave. The burial pit had an oval shape, and the deceased was laid in a crouched position (similar to the fetal posture), on the left side. A total of five vessels were uncovered in this grave: three near the back, one at the feet, and one in the pelvic area.
The cultural attribution of this funerary complex was determined based on the burial rite and grave goods. This culture is characterized by the specific construction of the burial pit, as well as the positioning and orientation of the deceased toward the east and northeast.

The vessel is shaped from clay mixed with finely crushed shell. Its walls curve gradually toward the top, with the widest diameter at the shoulder area. It has a short neck, a slightly flared rim, and a flat base. The surface is carefully polished, in some areas to a lustrous finish. The interior is reddish-brown, while the exterior is yellowish-brown with gray spots. The rim features groups of perforations, three of which are preserved in their original state. The diameter of the holes is 0.35 cm. The space between the groups of perforations is decorated with cord impressions. The transition from the neck to the shoulder is adorned with three horizontal lines made with cord, from which, in five places, three vertical lines descend, each 5 cm long, executed using the same technique. At the time of discovery, these lines were filled with a white paste. The space between the groups of lines is decorated at the top with short vertical lines (0.5 cm long), and in the center with a meander ornament made of two parallel lines impressed with cord. The base of the vessel retains the imprint of a textile.
Vessel dimensions: Height: 22 cm; Rim diameter: 15.7 cm; Maximum diameter: 22 cm; Base diameter: 10 cm.

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Exhibitions

“CHILDHOOD IN THE GULAG”

The Senate of the Romanian Parliament

20-31 May 2024

At 20 May, 2024, the National Museum of History of Moldova, in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania and the Senate of the Romanian Parliament, organized a new opening of the traveling exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" (curator Dr. Ludmila D. Cojocaru). The event takes place in the context of the 75th anniversary commemorated in 2024 of the second and largest wave of Stalinist deportations from Bessarabia, which took place on July 5-6, 1949.

The exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" presents photo-documentary images that reflect the life of Bessarabian children condemned to deportation, starvation, Russification, indoctrination and forced separation from their own families based on the repressive policies of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR, in the period 1940-1941 and 1944-1953.

The exhibition brings together around 180 photo-documentary images, accompanied by memories and archival documents from the collections of the National History Museum of Moldova, the Edineț County Museum, the Museum of History and Ethnography in Soroca, the Pro Memory Institute, from the archives of the memory communities, as well as family archives of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR.

The exhibition is a homage to the children who went through the atrocities of the totalitarian-communist regime in the USSR, a sign of memory to the innocent victims, a gesture of symbolic justice towards the Bessarabian children who went through the Gulag.

The event was attended by members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Bucharest, representatives of state institutions in Romania, but also historians and those interested in the history of the Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition is opened in the foyer of the Plenary Hall of the Senate of the Romanian Parliament (Bucharest, Palatul Parlamentului, str. Izvor, no. 2-4) until May 31, 2024.

The photo-documentary exhibition "Childhood in the Gulag" was elaborated with the support of "The Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

#Exhibit of the Month

Clay Vessel discovered in Speia Village, Dubăsari District

“CHILDHOOD IN THE GULAG”

The Senate of the Romanian Parliament

20-31 May 2024

#Exhibit of the Month