#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.

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.

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Exhibitions

“Everyday Danube. Childhood & Youth in the Danube Region”

June 12 - July 30, 2026

The exhibition "Everyday Danube. Childhood & Youth in the Danube Region" invites visitors on a journey through six Danube countries - Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Romania, and the Republic of Moldova - to discover the diversity of childhood and adolescent experiences in the 20th century. Through photographs, objects, and personal stories, the exhibition presents a layered image of growing up, revealing a mosaic of experiences: from carefree play and childhood friendships to work, migration, and loss.

We often associate Europe with imposing buildings, major historical events, or intellectual movements such as the Enlightenment. Yet Europe is found above all in everyday life - in gestures, habits, and actions to which we initially attach no significance, precisely because they seem so natural. Childhood and youth experiences have been and remain formative in this regard.

The exhibition is based on the idea that European heritage is not built solely through major historical events, but primarily through small, personal stories - memories, relationships, objects, and spaces that shape childhood. It creates a space for reflection and dialogue between past and present, between individual experience and collective memory.

By looking at childhoods in the Danube region, we learn not only about the past but also about our shared present. Childhood experiences shape our identity as adults, and they are as diverse as the Danube region itself. Depending on the period and social or cultural context, childhoods may be carefree, marked by trauma, flight, or endurance.

The exhibition features around forty photographs and artifacts, most from the first half of the 20th century, inviting visitors to reflect on identity, freedom, social expectations, and values passed between generations - to discover what we share and what makes us unique.

The exhibition is a project that connects Chișinău with Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Germany through the Danube, and reflects the collaboration between:

- National Museum of History of Moldova, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
- Museum of Slavonia, Osijek, Republic of Croatia
- Slovak National Museum - Museum of the Culture of the Carpathian Germans, Bratislava, Republic of Slovakia
- Institute for Cultural Analysis of the Germans of Eastern Europe (IKDE), Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany.

The exhibition was presented in March-April in Osijek (Croatia) and Bratislava (Slovakia) and will be open to the public in Chișinău (Republic of Moldova) until July 30, 2026.

The exhibition is part of the international project "Everyday Danube. Open Educational Resource on Everyday Culture in the Danube Region", funded by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation within the Perspektive Donau program, with support from the Ministry of the Interior, Digitalization, and Local Government of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

#Exhibit of the Month

Ceramic Vessel Set from Bălceana-Hâncești (5th–7th Centuries)

“Everyday Danube. Childhood & Youth in the Danube Region”

June 12 - July 30, 2026

#Exhibit of the Month