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#Exhibit of the Month

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The Roman bronze situla comes from a collection of archaeological artifacts confiscated at customs and transferred to the holdings of the National Museum of History of Moldova in 2009. Its place of discovery remains unknown.

A situla (Latin for "bucket") is a metal vessel-usually made of bronze-shaped like a pail and equipped with two movable handles at the top, traditionally used for mixing wine with water. The handles are attached to the vessel via two decorated ears that are welded to the rim.

The body of the situla is truncated-conical in shape and features two decorative bands with small circular patterns formed by hammering, located just below the rim.

Its base is double-layered: the inner bottom is hemispherical and hammered, while the outer bottom is flat and lathe-made. The outer base is welded to the inner bottom, serving as the vessel's foot-support.

This object was crafted using a combination of casting, hammering, and partial lathe-finishing. Dimensions: Maximum height - 31.7 cm; Maximum diameter - 22.8 cm; Base diameter - 13.5 cm

Situlae of this type originated in the Roman Empire and were later adopted by various ancient peoples, including those from the northwestern Pontic region.


Virtual Tour


#Exhibit of the Month

August 2021

Icon of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin

Russia, 1885, engraver V. Savinkov, tempera on wood

The Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos is considered a Great Christian Feast, when the Mother of God, upon her earthly demise, entered into heavenly glory. This feast, constituted with the evolution of the cult of the Virgin, is one of the earliest. The feast originated in Jerusalem, probably in the 4th century, and spread to the West in the 5th-6th centuries. The establishment of this feast strengthened the veneration of the Mother of God, as well as her Dormition, condemning some of the excesses of the cult of the Virgin, especially those associated with the delusions of the Collyridian heretics, who denied the human nature of the Most Holy Theotokos, including her worldly death. Originally celebrated on January 18, the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos from 582 began to be marked on August 15 and was considered "the Easter of the Summer". Emperor Flavius Mauricius (c. 539-602) established that the day of August 15 be celebrated everywhere.

The Holy Gospel is silent about this event, information about the circumstances of the Dormition of the Theotokos and the feast of the Virgin being preserved by popular tradition or related in the apocryphal writings. These sources, which convey the central moments of the event, also mentioned various details, suggesting different interpretations, the iconographic schemes evolving from one period to another. The initial compositions dedicated to the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin were laconic, with a small number of characters, but from the 10th-11th centuries, complex scenes with multiple characters appeared. The iconographic schemes were lined up both horizontally and vertically; in the first, the characters were located either to the left and right of the bier of the Virgin, or in a semicircle, in the second, the characters were depicted in large numbers behind the bier of the Virgin or (and) surrounding Jesus Christ, and the upper part of the icon was loaded with many images and details. Traditionally, the Blessed Virgin was depicted lying on a bier in the middle of a house, with her arms folded to her chest. On either side of her bed are candlesticks with lighted candles. At her feet the Apostle Peter is depicted with a censer, and at her head are the Apostles Paul and John the Theologian, who kisses her. Other apostles gathered around her, except for the Apostle Thomas, who was late. Above, to the left of the bed, Christ is shown in white robes, with a halo, in a shining mandorla or a clypeus, holding a swaddled baby in his arms, symbolizing the soul of the Mother of God.

The theological meaning of this iconographic subject reflects the relationship between death and life, between the limited and the infinite, between the end and the beginning. In the schemes of the icons, these hypostases are symbolized by a horizontal line and a vertical line, personified by the lying body of the Virgin and by the image of the Savior with the baby in His arms.

The iconographic model of the icon presented here resembles the famous icon from the Dormition Church in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, brought there in 1073, probably from the Church of the Virgin of Blachernae in Constantinople. It is known that on these models, which probably reproduced the composition of the original icon, a silver door was installed or depicted on the left of the bed, which, decorated with a cross in the center, could be confused with a closed Gospel. At the same time, this decorative element on later copies could suggest that the specimen brought to Kiev in the 11th century belonged to the so-called reliquary icons, in which special recesses with silver doors were made for fragments of the relics of saints or their garments.




 

 


Independent Moldova
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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
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#Exhibit of the Month

The Roman bronze situla comes from a collection of archaeological artifacts confiscated at customs and transferred to the holdings of the National Museum of History of Moldova in 2009. Its place of discovery remains unknown....

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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.
©2006-2025 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.
©2006-2025 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

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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.
©2006-2025 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