#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.

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.

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Events Archive

Commemoration of the victims of political repressions of the communist totalitarian regime

8 August 2017

On August 8, at the National Museum of History of Moldova was held an event for the commemoration of the victims who had suffered the plight of political repressions of the communist totalitarian regime. The event was attended by: Ion Coropceanu, Senior State Councilor of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova; Oleg Babin, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs; Gheorghe Postică, Deputy Minister of Culture; Eugen Sava, General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova; Ion Varta, General Director of the State Archives Service of the Republic of Moldova; Simion Carp, Rector of the Academy „Ştefan cel Mare" of the MIA; Ghenadie Cosovan, President of NGO „Credință Patriei"; Anatol Caraman, President of the Association of Veterans of the 1992 War „Tiras-Tighina"; representatives of the academia, employees of the National Museum of History of Moldova and the Academy „Ştefan cel Mare".

The action was organized following a discovery made at the end of 2014 during the renovation of the MIA headquarters. A parquet board was found when removing the floor, on the back side of which was written the following message: "1949, July 28. I, Popa Nichifor, have been sentenced to 10 years for political reasons and I laid the parquet here".

The discovered parquet board was sent for additional study to the Academy "Ştefan cel Mare". This triggered a series of research activities within the archives of the Ministry of Interior, the State Archives Service and the Intelligence and Security Service of the Republic of Moldova. Thus, the identity of the messenger was established in the ISS archive: Popa Nichifor Ştefan, born in 1907, in the village Sireți, Strășeni District, sentenced to 10 years of deprivation of liberty for actions against the Soviet regime. From his file, it was also learned that along with Popa Nichifor Ştefan, four other persons from his village were imprisoned - Buzu Ştefan Gheorghe, born in 1880; Jaloba Foma Petru, born in 1902; Muru Mitrofan Zahar, born in 1905, and Ionița Terentie Alexandru, born in 1920. Some of the convicts, including Popa Nichifor, executed their sentence in the country, along with prisoners of war, others being exiled to Siberia, with the ban to return home for another 5 years after the punishment was over.

The parquet board with the message of the political prisoner Popa Nichifor was given in custody to the National Museum of History of Moldova by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Oleg Babin. This cultural asset with great historical value will be presented to the general public within the thematic exhibition dedicated to the totalitarian communist past, "Soviet Moldova - between myths and Gulag".

At the event was presented the documentary film "Testimonies of Victims of Political Repression", produced by the Academy "Stefan cel Mare" of the MIA.