#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

World Press Photo 2022

9 – 30 November 2022

Chisinau will host for the sixth consecutive time the World Press Photo International Exhibition, 2022 edition - a competition that recognizes quality photojournalism and rewards images and stories from around the world. The event is organized by the Center for Independent Journalism (CJI) with the support of the Office of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chisinau.

The exhibition includes the best photos taken in the world during 2021 and will be launched on November 9, at the National Museum of History of Moldova. The winners of the World Press Photo 2022 contest present stories that span a wide spectrum of issues - from the undeniable effects of the climate crisis or the civil rights movements and the right to access education, to the preservation of indigenous practices and identity.

Most of the winning stories of the World Press Photo 2022 contest are submitted by photographers who are close to these stories. 19 of the 24 awarded projects belong to photographers originating from the countries or communities where their winning stories were photographed. This year, out of 64,823 works sent to the competition by 4,066 photographers from 130 countries around the world, 24 regional winners and 4 global winners from 23 countries were selected: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Russia, Sudan and Thailand.

The four overall winners are:

● Photo of the Year Award: "Kamloops Residential School" by Amber Bracken, Canada, for The New York Times;
● Photojournalism of the Year Award: Saving Forests with Fire by Matthew Abbott, Australia, for National Geographic/ Panos Pictures;
● Award for long-term projects: Amazonian Dystopia by Lalo de Almeida, Brazil, for Folha de São Paulo/ Panos Pictures;
● Prize for multimedia project: Blood is a Seed by Isadora Romero, Ecuador.

For the first time, the "Photo of the Year" doesn't surprise people. The image, by Amber Bracken, commemorates the children who died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, an institution created to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children and where 215 unmarked graves were discovered. Residential schools began operating in the 19th century as part of a policy of assimilating indigenous people into Western and predominantly Christian culture. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that at least 4,100 students died in these schools. Kamloops became the largest educational institution in this system.

The general public is invited to discover the stories behind the winning photos at the National Museum of History of Moldova between November 10-30, 2022.

Useful information about the event:

● Exhibition launch: November 9, 3:00 p.m., National Museum of History of Moldova, based on invitations;
● Daily opening hours for the general public: 10:00 - 17:00. Friday - closed;
● Tickets can be purchased inside the museum;
● Ticket price: 10 lei/adults; 5 lei/students.

The annual World Press Photo international exhibition travels around the world. It is set up in almost 100 spaces from about 45 countries and is visited by over 4 million people every edition. The first edition of World Press Photo took place in 1955, when a group of Dutch photographers organized a competition to exhibit their work in front of an international audience. Over the years, it has become one of the most prestigious photography and visual journalism competitions in the world.

In Chisinau, the exhibition was organized for the first time in 2017.

The World Press Photo exhibition is organized in Chisinau by the Center for Independent Journalism (CJI) with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chisinau.

#Exhibit of the Month

Ceramic Vessel Set from Bălceana-Hâncești (5th–7th Centuries)

World Press Photo 2022

9 – 30 November 2022

#Exhibit of the Month