#Exhibit of the Month

Buckles (paftale) are an almost indispensable element of traditional women's dress in the Southeastern European area, particularly in the Balkans, and have been in use over a long period, from the 14th to the 20th century.
The word pafta is of Turkic origin-possibly entering the language via Iranian influence-derived from the Persian word bafta, meaning "woven," which evolved in Turkish to signify "plate." Today, the term is used in nearly identical forms in Romanian (pafta), Bulgarian (пафта), Serbian (пафте), and some Aromanian dialects (pafta), designating functional and ornamental clothing accessories used to fasten belts, girdles, or sashes, crafted from various materials and decorated using different techniques.
The three buckles decorated in the polychrome enamel technique, preserved in the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova, belong to the South-Danubian tradition and are dated to the late 19th - early 20th century.

Each buckle consists of two identical trapezoidal parts, their surfaces divided into three roughly equal registers, adorned with stylized vegetal motifs forming a metal lattice into which enamel is poured. The two parts extend into sharp angles at the ends, forming a triangle with the edge of the last decorative register, similarly ornamented. The enamel used to fill the floral motifs is black, turquoise, white, orange, green, yellow, and burgundy. The entire decorative field is framed by a beaded border.

On the reverse, both components retain a copper band riveted along the edge, used to fasten the ends of the belt. The fastening system, made by interlocking the hinges of the two parts and secured with a movable pin attached by a chain to a clasp fixed on one of the buckle pieces, is concealed by a rectangular plate (riveted with three pins to the body of the piece), with narrow edges ending in sharp angles, decorated in the same style and technique. Additionally, it features three circular settings with notched edges bent inward to hold centrally placed red and green glass paste. These settings are framed by a radiant, notched band.

The symbolism of the color palette encodes meanings and symbols, chosen for their believed magical powers. Red has always represented love, affection, and protection against curses and the evil eye; white symbolizes purity and spiritual and physical cleanliness; blue is symbolically associated with infinity, morning, new beginnings, and transformation; green represents destiny, hope, prosperity, balance, and rebirth, being linked to nature's revival each spring and to life itself.

Virtual Tour

#Exhibit of the Month

December 2022

Postcards dedicated to winter holidays

"Back in the old days, people used to send each other greetings..."

We are on the threshold of the winter holidays, when we are concerned with the small joys and pleasant surprises, we want to give our loved ones, along with the spoken or written greeting. The latter - the handwritten card sent by post - is not so popular today, because modern information transmission technologies have replaced these "small cardboard patches", which exuded not only the vintage fragrance, but also the individuality of the recipient who sent it. Over time, the congratulations had the role of messengers, which often "replaced" the visits intended to "personally" congratulate the close ones, friends, acquaintances, also symbolizing a gesture of esteem and appreciation from the sender to the recipient.

The predecessors of greetings were business cards, which appeared for the first time in the middle of the 18th century in Paris, where, around the holidays, they were sent by couriers or personally handed to relatives, friends, acquaintances. The year 1843 is considered the year of the "birth" of greeting cards with the theme of the winter holidays, the first Christmas card being ordered by Henry Cole and illustrated by John Horsley in London, then multiplied with the help of lithography, which resembled traditional business cards. some works of art, some were with gold or silver borders, even when the phenomenon became an industry, they delighted with magical, warm images, so that the message written to the recipient brought even greater joy. Congratulations differed from other cards postcards not only as an image and message, but also through a series of signs-symbols characteristic of the event, each carrying an individual message. These were illustrations of the traditions and customs that existed in the respective country, remaining constant, regardless of the country, the representation of children and family, the string of images being supplemented with biblical scenes. With the advent of photography, they began to be printed postcards with mounted scenes. No less interesting were the greeting cards with everyday scenes reflecting the theme of Christmas, which had as an image, in addition to the traditional ones, the festive table, children opening the gifts brought by Santa Claus, companies and funny couples, sometimes not very sober, the decorated Christmas tree, etc.

The heritage of the National Museum of History of Moldova has a rich collection of illustrated postcards, which also includes greeting cards for various occasions. Those exhibited during the winter holidays - Christmas and New Year - are only a small part of the collection, they circulated in Bessarabia a century ago, being shipped from the Russian Empire, Romania and other countries. Browsing through vintage postcard albums, we transport ourselves to the magical world of winter holidays with our loved ones, savor the vintage perfume and ask ourselves: when was the last time we sent a handwritten Christmas or New Year's card in the mail?