#Exhibit of the Month

German porcelain is highly prized among antique collectors for its exceptional material quality, originality, and the meticulous craftsmanship of its decorative design.
The museum's collection preserves five figurines from one of the oldest porcelain manufactories in the Thuringia region of Germany - the statuary group known as *"The Musicians"*, crafted at the Volkstedt manufactory. These pieces entered the museum's holdings in 1991, acquired from a resident of Chișinău. With undeniable historical and artistic value, they bear the distinct imprint of the Rococo style.
The Volkstedt manufactory has a long-standing tradition in producing figurines, including those depicting musicians. In 1760, Georg Heinrich Macheleid - inventor of hard-paste porcelain in Thuringia - founded a production workshop in Zitzendorf, which was relocated to Volkstedt in 1762. Macheleid led the manufactory until 1764. Over time, the factory changed ownership and management multiple times. Under the direction of Christian Nonne, it flourished between 1767 and 1797, a period marked by significant artistic development. Volkstedt began creating figurines that would later gain international recognition.
It was during this flourishing period that the museum's porcelain statuettes, titled *"The Musicians"*, were produced. They depict five “putti”: four playing musical instruments (flute, mandolin, horn, and pipe), while the fifth conducts. Each figurine is entirely handcrafted - from modeling to painting - and delicately adorned with pastel tones and gilded details, capturing the playful movement and refined artistry of each musician. The base is made of mass-colored porcelain in a rare grey-green hue. The contrast between green, white, and gold accents lends the ensemble an unusually delicate appearance. These ornamental features are characteristic of the Rococo style, which emerged in France and is closely associated with the reign of King Louis XV.

The mark applied to the figurines consists of two crossed forks, clearly rendered in underglaze blue, with slightly blurred paint - a detail that helps date their production. Because the crossed forks often resembled the crossed swords of the Meissen trademark, the Volkstedt manufactory was compelled to change its mark starting in 1787. Initially represented by a single fork, the mark briefly returned to two forks before being replaced in 1800 by the graphic symbol "R", referencing the town of Rudolstadt. Therefore, the brief period during which the two-fork mark was reinstated - and during which the museum's figurines were likely produced - is estimated to be between 1787 and 1800.

The statuettes range in height from 10 to 18 cm and are preserved in relatively good condition.

These late 18th-century German porcelain pieces, now on display, are exceptionally rare. They stand as true works of art by German craftsmen and serve as important historical testimonies to the evolution of porcelain manufacturing in Germany.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

The compartment of World War II and Stalinist repression

(Permanent Exhibition „History and Civilization”)

The department presents documentary evidences about World War II and political repression during the Stalinist dictatorship.

Numerous photos, documents, military clothing items, letters from the front, personal belongings of soldiers recreate the ordeal of war, which caused millions of deaths and immeasurable economic losses.

The compartment of World War II and Stalinist repression

Among the relics presented in the showcases you can see a photograph of the commander of the 12th gendarme regiment G. Niculescu, who was the first Romanian colonel fallen in the battles of Tiganca on July 9, 1941; letters from the front written by E. Filatov, soldier in the Romanian army, to his wife; military ID that belonged to V. Sava, a native of the village of Bardar, Lapusna District; photograph and flying helmet of S. Harhalup who’s aircraft was shot down on 30 June 1941 during a fight over his native village of Valea Adanca, Camenca District; sailor’s shirt of I. Caimacan and shoulder straps of Colonel L. Grecu, who participated in the war in the ranks of Soviet troops and navy.

A number of exhibits remind of the horrible concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where more than 4 million people, representatives of 27 nationalities, were killed Nearby you can see the clothes of a prisoner of the Soviet forced labor camps and a certificate on the name of Vasile Cojocaru, a former political prisoner, as well as a certificate stating that Peter Cojocaru was shot in 1942 at the camp in Mariinsk, Kemerovo Region.

Such a fate befell tens of thousands of Bessarabians who were in the Soviet Gulag. During the 11 years, from 1940 to 1951, the MSSR there were carried out three large-scale deportations and dozens of arrests and deportations at the local level. In June 1941 there were deported 3470 families of "anti-Soviet elements" (22 848 persons). On the night of 5 to 6 July 1949, 11 293 families (over 35 thousand people) of hardworking peasants were forcibly sent to the suffering and death in Siberia and other remote areas of the Soviet empire. In 1951, as a result of the operation "North", 723 families of Jehovah‘s Witnesses (over 2,600 people) have been forcibly relocated.

The exhibition includes photographs, letters from the camps, lists of confiscated property, personal belongings of the deported, and other documentary evidence about the fate of people who have experienced the deportation ordeal, such as poet Nicolae Turcan, scientist Alexei Barladeanu, teacher Catherine Dementieva, the Buiuc family from Chiperceni (Orhei District), the Baciu family from Mereni (Anenii Noi District), the Berezovschi family from Chisinau, Xenia Botnaru from Straseni, Alexandra and Gregory Scafaru from Ciuciuleni (Nisporeni District), and many others.

#Exhibit of the Month

The Statuary Group “The Musicians”

The compartment of World War II and Stalinist repression

(Permanent Exhibition „History and Civilization”)

#Exhibit of the Month