#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.

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Events Archive

Inauguration of the "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" exhibition

February 1, 2023

On February 1, 2023, in the premises of the National Museum of History of Moldova took place the opening of the "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" exhibition.

The event was opened by Eugen Sava, the General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, who stated that this exhibition is a continuation of the collaboration between NMHM, the Polish Institute in Bucharest and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Chisinau. Mr. Sava highlighted the importance of this beneficial relationship, which has as a results, numerous projects and exhibitions realized during the last years.

Svetlana Pociumban, head of the Cultural Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Natalia Mosor, director of the Polish Institute in Bucharest, came with greetings and speeches, who reiterated the importance of Moldovan-Polish collaboration and thanks to which we can admire this exhibition today.

S.E. Tomasz Michał Kobzdej, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Chisinau, reported on the concept and content of the exhibition. Mr. Ambassador highlighted the main processes that the cities of Central Europe went through in the period after the First World War and how they influenced the architecture of that period, architecture that combines various aspects, among which the political, social and cultural are already found.

The leitmotif of the exhibition is to present the very dynamic period, after 1918, from the perspective of the entire spectrum of changes that influenced the space, urban planning and architecture of the new countries that appeared on the map of Central Europe. In the present case, the architecture of independence is understood more broadly than just individual buildings. It is the symbol of its materiality in the landscape of regions and cities, of the search for new models of national iconography, of the desire to create opportunities for social development, but also of the emergence of the idea of a new man.

Also, the end of the First World War marked the birth of the idea of a new man. The man of the future had to be healthy and athletic, and his body had to resemble a machine. Health and hygiene, sport and active recreation were considered factors of social and moral change, as well as important elements in the consolidation of new societies. Spas have developed, as has the sports infrastructure. Sports halls, racetracks, swimming pools, stadiums that could accommodate thousands of spectators became visible symbols of modernization and a great propaganda tool for the newly created states.

The curators of the exhibition are Łukasz Galusek, Dr. Żanna Komar, Helena Postawka-Lech, Dr. Michał Wiśniewski, Natalia Żak.

The exhibition "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" is co-financed from the funds of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, as part of the NIEPODLEGŁA Multiannual Program for the years 2017-2022 and can be seen at the National Museum of History of Moldova from February 1-28, 2023.