#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

Branch Museums

Museum of Victims of Political Repressions and Deportations

Museum of the Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions was created by Government Decision no. 605 of July 2, 2010 as branch of the National Museum of History of Moldova.

On June 13, 2012, in an exhibition space in the basement of the National Museum of History of Moldova, was opened the first exhibition of the Museum of the Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions entitled "Soviet Moldova: between myths and gulag".

Exhibition "Soviet Moldova: between myths and gulag" presents the totalitarian phenomenon in the overall history of the Soviet era. By using specific museological techniques, the authors of the exhibition have tried to present to the public the two components of Soviet society: the illusory world of those who embraced the "Soviet dream", believing naively in the ideals of freedom and justice, the "bright future" shaped by Soviet propaganda and the world of people who lived through the hell of communist camps and prisons. The exhibition brings together about 700 museum pieces: photographs, documents, letters from Siberia, vintage posters, personal belongings of former deportees and political prisoners, lists of confiscated property, memoirs written by witnesses and survivors of the Soviet gulag. For the first time are exhibited materials and documents from the archives of the former KGB with reference to the repressed people for their political and religious beliefs.

According to some incomplete data, 31 677 persons were sentenced for "political crimes" between 1920-1951 in MASSR and MSSR, of which over 5000 were sentenced to death. Other 3000 died in prisons and isolators. About 60 thousand people were deported during nationwide deportations: in June 1941, July 1949 and 1 April 1951. Museum materials presented in the exhibition "Soviet Moldova: between myths and gulag" speak about the drama of these persons with incredible destinies.

This is not a usual exhibition, it is a small memorial of sorrows and humiliations of the victims of the red terror, an exhibition that recalls contemporaries of communist totalitarian past that needs to be known, but must remain in history and never repeat again.