#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.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“The colors of the "thaw". The Bessarabian village in the painting of the 1960s”

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant

April 18 - May 19, 2024

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant and the Arbor Culture and Arts Association invite you to the exhibition Colors of the "thaw". The Bessarabian village in the painting of the 1960s, which presents the creations of 14 masters from the left of the Prut River, sonorous names that stood out for their contribution to renewing the plastic language of the moment.

The exhibition is part of the "Grecu Rusu Ciobanu and others" cultural project. Redefining aesthetics in Bessarabia in the 1960s", organized by the Arbor Association, in partnership with the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, the Union of Plastic Artists from the Republic of Moldova, the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Library of the Republic of Moldova and ARCUB - Cultural Center of the Municipality of Bucharest.

The exhibition Colors of the "thaw". The Bessarabian village in the painting of the 1960s presents mostly unknown creations, from the artists' family collections, from private collections, supplemented with works from the heritage of the Union of Plastic Artists of the Republic of Moldova and from the National Museum of History of Moldova. Taking into account the specifics of the host museum, the exhibition presents plastic creations with a rural theme, through which the Bessarabian masters demonstrate a deep understanding of the spirit of folk art.

The exhibition speech is completed by the projection of a video material, produced by the Arbor Association, which clarifies the historical and cultural context in which Bessarabian artists lived and worked, with explanations and testimonies brought by art historians, Ludmila Toma, Constantin I. Ciobanu and Tudor Stavilă. In addition, the public will also have at their disposal a catalog of the exhibition, with complementary studies, signed by the historians invited to the project.

In addition to the paintings, personal objects of the artists are exhibited, a documentary film about the artist Glebus Sanciuc, promoter of masks inspired by popular tradition ("Glebus", 1983, director: V. Jereghi), as well as a rich collection of art publications, from the fund of the National Library of the Republic of Moldova and private collections.

The exhibition can be visited in the New Gallery Hall of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, until May 19, 2024, from Wednesday to Sunday, between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday is closed.