#Exhibit of the Month

The Gospel is a fundamental liturgical book of the Orthodox Church that brings together the four apostolic testimonies about the Son of God - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - "inspired by the same Holy Spirit, the one true and sole author of the Gospel." The Gospel, or the Good News, testifying to the Glory of Christ, refers to the full teaching and deeds of the Savior; the four Gospels are regarded as the four sustaining pillars of the Church.
St. Jerome (c. 340-420), author of the first complete Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures, assigned to the four evangelists the living creatures that appear in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel (1:5). Thus, the Evangelist Matthew, the first to relate the Nativity of the Lord, is accompanied in imagery by the angel who announced the miracle; the Evangelist Mark, likened to St. John the Baptist - "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" - is associated with the lion. The Evangelist Luke, who opens his Gospel with the priest Zechariah, is personified by the winged ox, recalling the ox's sacrificial role; and the Evangelist John, for his elevated theological vision, is associated with the eagle.
This altar Gospel, printed in 1890 at the Lavra Pecerska printing house in Kyiv, contains - in addition to the four canonical Gospels - other liturgical texts: readings for Vespers, the Divine Liturgy, prayers, and services.
It is a large-format Gospel measuring 37 × 48 cm, bound in cardboard and leather. The gilded metal cover is fitted with two metal clasps and gilt edges. Five vertical-oval icon plaques in polychrome enamel are applied to the cover, which is engraved with vegetal and geometric ornamentation. The central plaque depicts the "Resurrection of the Lord"; in the corners of the upper register appear the faces of the Evangelists Matthew and John, and in the lower register those of Luke and Mark. Printed in red and black, the volume comprises 428 leaves; the text is enriched with various typographic ornaments - vignettes, initials, engravings, frontispieces, etc. Pagination is indicated on the leaves, the folio number appearing in the upper right.
The Gospel of Matthew is printed on pages 1-105, the opening page accompanied by the scene of the Nativity of the Lord. The Gospel of Mark continues on pages 104-168, its representative scene being the Baptism of the Lord. The Gospel according to Luke occupies pages 172-273, its opening page bearing the scene of the Annunciation. The Gospel according to John is included between pages 280-358, the evocative scene being the Crucifixion of the Lord.

The Lavra Pecerska printing house, cited in the colophon, has long roots - traditionally founded by Archimandrite Elisei Pletenetsky (1595-1624) in 1615 - although the precise dates of its earliest publications remain a matter of debate. This copy entered the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova under inventory number FB-23062-35; acquired in 1982, it was transferred to the MNIM collections in 1996 from the holdings of the Museum of the History of Religion.

Virtual Tour

Events Archive

Presentation of the cartographic album „DESCRIPTIO BESSARABIAE"

June 20, 2017

On June 20, 2017, in the Blue Room of the National Museum of History of Moldova was presented the cartographic album "DESCRIPTIO BESSARABIAE". The event was organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute "Mihai Eminescu" in Chișinău, in partnership with the National Museum of History of Moldova.

The album presentation event was attended by Mr. Valeriu Matei, the director of RCI "Mihai Eminescu" and dr. hab. Eugen Sava, the director of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Among the special guests was dr.hab. Gheorghe Postică, Deputy Minister of Culture; academician Demir Dragnev and the authors of the album: univ.prof. Adrian Năstase, coordinator of the volume; dr. Mihai Gribincea, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Romania and researcher Ovidiu Dumitru.

The event was attended by Moldovan officials, researchers, museographers, teachers and scholars, representatives of the press, as well as members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Chișinău, including the Romanian Ambassador to Moldova, H.E. Daniel Ioniță.

Written in two languages, Romanian and English, the album "Descriptio Bessarabiae" presents 120 maps in an exceptional visual conception, rare pieces found in the collections of the National Museum of Maps and Old Books in Bucharest and in the private collections of the album authors. The presentation of the maps in the album structure respects the historical evolution of cartographic achievements related to the Bessarabian territory during almost five centuries of cartography.

"Bessarabia is not a myth. It is a reality. Emerged on the map by a game of history, this territory disappeared through an equally unexpected event. But as astronomers know to see comets only of their knowledge, they know how to comment and accurately calculate the trajectories only by their suspects; therefore historians should master the skill of honoring the most unseen truths. Compared to astronomy (if you want, they can also be related with the time), the maps are just regular charts that unseen hands of sovereigns of the moment show their own ambitions. And it is our duty not to take them as absolute truths, even if they are signed with names of Christian emperors like Alexander I or names of communist tyrants like Joseph Stalin ... The axiom of the existence of this earth are the very people who passed rapidly through the hourglass of time, but did not want to have a destiny similar to that of sand. Their purpose was to leave a trace. The supreme argument of their existence is the follow-up. Reading the traces of the generations that have gone down in our history, we affirm with deep conviction: Bessarabia is not a myth. It is a reality." (From the preface „Basarabia. Miza geostrategică"(Bessarabia. Geostrategic Stake))

An essential argument put forward by the authors in favor of the album "Descriptio Bessarabiae" is that in the Romanian Principalities from the medieval period there were no native concerns relevant to cartography, the maps being made more by foreign travelers, often accompanied by plastic artists to write down field information. These works were documentary studies that had, over time, a special, even restricted, regime. The cartographic atlases were used to educate the children of princes, helping to understand the changes of territory.

The cartographic album released at the National Museum of History of Moldova is part of a larger project, developed in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute Publishing House and the National Museum of Maps and Old Books in Bucharest, a project from the series of albums containing maps of the Danube, Black Sea, Bessarabia. The series is wanted to be completed with the presentation of the old Transylvanian maps as part of the Program that marks the Centenary of the Great Union in the spring of next year.

#Exhibit of the Month

Altar Gospel (1890)

Presentation of the cartographic album „DESCRIPTIO BESSARABIAE"

June 20, 2017

#Exhibit of the Month