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#Exhibit of the Month

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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 Tricolor – Symbol of Dignity”

April - May 2022

The photo-documentary exhibition "The Tricolor - Symbol of Dignity" is dedicated to the Day of the State Flag, the main symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova.

The participants of the Great National Assembly on August 27, 1989 demanded official recognition of the tricolor by a special resolution "On National Symbols", which, in addition to repeating the resolution of the Popular Front of Moldova, contained two articles:
Article 1. Consider the tricolor (blue, yellow, red) with the historical coat of arms of Moldavia on a yellow background as the national flag of the MSSR.
Article 2. Consider it necessary to develop a new coat of arms and a new anthem of the republic in accordance with the historical tradition and the everlasting aspirations of the Moldavian people.

On October 19, 1989, the Commission of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian SSR was established to study the state-national symbols of the MSSR. The commission carried out a historical study and duly substantiated the legitimacy of the tricolor in the new Moldavian state. The report of the commission was presented by Alexandru Moșanu at the historic meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR on April 27, 1990. At this meeting, the Law on Amendments to Article 168 of the Constitution of the Moldavian SSR was adopted. The new edition of the article said: The national flag of the Moldavian SSR - Tricolor - is a rectangular canvas, consisting of three stripes of equal size, arranged vertically in the following sequence of colors from the flagpole: blue (azure), yellow, red. The State Emblem of the Moldavian SSR is printed in the center on the yellow stripe. From this date until November 3, 1990, when the new State Emblem was adopted, the state flag was used without the coat of arms.

On April 23, 2010, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova voted to declare April 27, the day of the adoption of the Tricolor in the Republic of Moldova in 1990, as the State Flag Day.

On September 17, 2010, a new Law on the State Flag of the Republic of Moldova was adopted, which clarifies the color nuances and detailed proportions of the flag, the way it is raised and handled, and other issues related to it.

The recognition and approval of the national tricolor of the Romanian nation in our country was desired and promoted by large masses of people, led by figures in the field of culture, science and politics, who realized the inevitability of a return to the Tricolor.

The exhibition "The Tricolor - Symbol of Dignity" brings together over 70 museum pieces, especially photographs reflecting epochal events in the recent history of the Republic of Moldova. These are the Great National Assemblies of August 31, 1989 and August 27, 1991, the Flower Bridges, the first celebration of the National Language Day on August 31, 1990, which culminated in the reopening after restoration of the monument of Stephen the Great, the spiritual epicenter of the national renaissance.

The photographs captured the moments of the hoisting of the State Flag on the building of the Moldavian Parliament, on the top of Mount Everest and at the Barcelona Olympics in honor of the victory won by the Olympic champion Tudor Casapu.

Among the most significant exhibits presented at the exhibition are handmade tricolors worn by the participants of the first Grate National Assembly on August 31, 1989, the first postcards and postage stamps with the Coat of Arms and the State Flag of the Republic of Moldova, stamps issued on the occasion of the proclamation of the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Moldova, the accession of our country to the UN and the OSCE, the signing of the Association Agreement between the Republic of Moldova and the European Union.

A special compartment of the exhibition refers to the functioning of the Law on the State Flag of the Republic of Moldova, to the ways of hoisting the flag. The compartment includes images from various political, military or public events, high-level meetings, images of public institutions, over which, according to the law, in certain cases, the State Flag of the Republic of Moldova flies permanently or temporarily.

The national flag of the Republic of Moldova - Tricolor - symbolizes Romanian origins, belonging to European culture, commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy. 


 




Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
  

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Winter schedule: daily
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Entrance fees:  adults - 50 MDL, Pensioners, students - 20 lei, pupils - 10 MDL. Free access: enlisted men (...)

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#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...

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

menu
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2026 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC