#Exhibit of the Month

The 21 beads form part of a bronze hoard found in 2019 within a forested area close to the town of Nisporeni. Alongside the beads, the hoard included numerous bronze ornaments (2 Röschitz-Sanislău-type fibulae, 7 necklaces, 12 rings, 22 tubes, 23 bracelets, and approximately 80 appliqués), one coral bead and a pendant made from a wild animal's tooth. At present, the amber beads are preserved in the collections of the Muzeul Național de Istorie a Moldovei, while the remainder of the hoard is in the possession of a private collector.
The hoard was discovered accidentally in a pit about 50 cm deep. The objects in this hoard are of Western origin, with known parallels in archaeological complexes from Poland, Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia, and, to a lesser extent, in Romania. The presence of this bronze hoard on the territory of the Republic of Moldova illustrates the cultural dynamics of the region during the Early Iron Age and a fundamental shift in the vector of cultural influences from east to west.

The amber bead strand comprises 16 whole beads and five fragmentary ones. They have an elongated biconical shape and vary in size. The beads are brown-reddish in color; their lengths range from 1.1 to 3.1 cm, widths from 0.6 to 1.4 cm, thicknesses from 0.6 to 1.1 cm, and the perforation diameter ranges between 0.2 and 0.3 cm.
Amber beads appear in several bronze hoards dated to the Late Bronze Age in the eastern half of Slovakia and in Transdanubian Hungary. Parallels are also known from the Cioclovina Cave in Romania. With the onset of the Iron Age, amber items disappear from the Carpathian Basin for approximately 300 years, reappearing alongside the arrival of Scythian elements.
The bronze hoard discovered at Nisporeni is dated to the HaA2-HaB1-2 interval (1050/1000 - 800/750 B.C.).

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Exhibitions

„Icons from private collections from Chișinău”

July 21, 2016 - February 19, 2017

On July 21, 2016, the National Museum of History of Moldova and the International Club of Collectors from Moldova opened the exhibition „Icons from private collections from Chișinău", which will be on display until December 31, 2016.

This is a new practice for Moldovan collectors to collaborate with public institutions in order to display to a larger public the antiques they have collected over the years. Besides the tendency to collect objects of different categories, including ritual artifacts, the merit of collectors, as well as public institutions, is the safeguard and preservation of heritage assets. In case of icons, their collection and conservation in private collections was perhaps the most appropriate way to salvage them from imminent danger of total disappearance in certain historical periods.

The exhibition has on display 127 icons painted on wood, oil and tempera, dated with the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Most exhibited icons are of Russian origin, but there are also some examples created in Bessarabia.
The exhibition is divided into several distinct sections and presents a grouping of religious icons of the Mother of God, of the Saviour and St. Nicholas. The public will familiarize with the most representative Mariological icon types: Hodighitria, Eleusa, Oranta, Aghiosoritissa. Among displayed icons with Christological theme are: Jesus Christ Pantocrator, Christ the High Priest, the Holy Veil, the Icon of the Resurrection etc. A remarkable collection of icons with the image of St. Nicholas will be displayed, protection icons, icons with several registers and icons dedicated to holy martyrs and pious saints, such as icons with the image of St. John the Baptist, Saints Samon, Gurie and Aviv, St. Evdokia, St. Fotinia, St. Catherine, St. Tatiana etc.

All icons in the exhibition are displayed the first time to the visiting public, which makes the exhibition extremely valuable.

Exhibition „Icons from private collections from Chișinău”