#Exhibit of the Month

Christmas bells entered the Romanian cultural space through a long process in which archaic traditions blended with Christian belief and European influences. Long before the holiday of Christmas developed as we know it, metallic sounds played an important ritual role in old communities: they were used to drive away evil spirits, to purify spaces, and to protect people during transitional moments at the turn of the year. These beliefs have been preserved in winter customs such as caroling, the Plugușor, and masked dances, where bells and jingles were indispensable.
With the spread of Christianity, the sound of the bell also acquired a profound religious meaning, becoming an announcer of major feasts and a symbol of the Nativity. Small bells, however, were not originally used as decorations but primarily as functional or ritual objects.
The first decorated Christmas tree in the Romanian lands was the one at the palace of Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern, following his arrival in the Romanian Principalities in 1866. From that moment the tradition took root, and on Christmas Eve princes and princesses invited to the palace would take part in decorating the tree. Among the ornaments used were small metal bells, symbolizing joy, the good news, and divine protection for the home.
In the twentieth century, Christmas bells spread across all Romanian provinces and became a visual emblem of the holiday, appearing in both decorations and carols. Even during periods when religious expression was curtailed, bells remained in people's homes as signs of joy and the continuity of tradition. Today they retain this dual meaning: the echo of ancient beliefs and, at the same time, the announcement of the Birth of Christ - a symbol of hope, light, and the link between past and present.
These tinkling pieces are part of a generous heritage collection at the National Museum of History of Moldova (NMHM), which includes more than 200 cultural items. A substantial contribution to the museum's collection of decorative bells was made by Dorina Raischi, a teacher at School No. 94 in Chișinău, who donated 174 bells, of which around 30 are winter-themed. Made of ceramic, porcelain, glass, and metal, they were brought from different parts of the world and together offer a succinct picture of the global culture of bells. They add a festive note to the home and even to a gift, and it is hard to imagine Christmas without their cheerful tinkling.

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

Decorative Bells

The compartment of World War II and Stalinist repression

(Permanent Exhibition „History and Civilization”)

#Exhibit of the Month