#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.

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Events Archive

The European Night of Museums 2012

19 May 2012

National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova for the seventh time has participated in the Night of Museums, a successful event initiated by the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France and carried out in Europe already for the eighth time. The museum was opened to the public from 18:00 to 02:00, access was free. The event was attended by 8516 people.

The night event included:

1. Visiting of exhibitions. The cultural rendezvous was accompanied by alternative activities:

Screening of mini-films presenting the museum collections
Recital of the string quartet of the Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts (artistic director A. Molodojan)
Piano music performed by the students of the Academy of Music, Theatre, and Fine Arts
Parade of historical characters
Torchlight procession. Fighting of warriors in armor (Club of Historical Fencing an Reconstruction „Ensifer", director Mikhail Tereshchenko)

2. Interactive presentations of enigmatic objects in the permanent exhibition. Under the title "Unsolved Mysteries" there were presented a number of strange, unexplained objects from the museum collection (a "scepter" of the Late Bronze Age (end of the 2^nd millennium B.C.) found in the hoard at Lozova; binocular vessels of the middle period of Cucuteni-Tripolye Culture (end of the 5^th - beginning of the 3^rd millennia B.C.); miniature clay figurines of the 8^th - 10^th centuries found at Durlești), which practical use, generic functions or exact origin have not been clarified until now; there are only certain assumptions and hypotheses. Visitors were invited to explain the origin or functionality of these artifacts. In this interactive activity 144 people were involved. The most interesting of the assumptions will be awarded by the museum and will be a subject to an article.

3. Mini-exhibitions under the title „An Exhibit Story". There were presented to the public the album „History of the Bender-Galati Railway Section", an icon of the Virgin and Child, and the saber of Russian Tsarevich Alexei. They continue the theme of exhibits with stories that was initiated in 2011.

4. The stand of a medieval knight. At the stand visitors could try on armor (chain mail and helmet) and walk in them through the museum.

5. The Ikebana Workshop of Angela Lobastova, president of the "Ikenobo" Japanese Culture and Art Center in Chișinău. Everyone could try to arrange flowers under the guidance of master Lobastova.

6. CHRONOGRAPH at the Museum. Screenings of historical and cultural films of the 10^th International Documentary Film Festival CHRONOGRAPH 2012 that had place in Chisinau from 10 to 15 May 2012. There were presented the following films:

18:30: SĂRMAna de pe Prut / The Wired Prut (Republic of Moldova) - 47 min.
19:30: The Train Station Latvians 1937 (Latvia) - 64 min.
20:45: A. Leonov. The Spacewalker (France, Russia) - 60 min.
22:00: Love Stories from Moscow 1993-2009 (Germany) - 115 min.

7. Photographer's parlor "Retro-Museum". In one of the rooms of the museum there was made a reconstruction of a photographer's parlor from Chisinau of the past, where visitors were able to rediscover a solemnity of the lost ritual: visiting a photographer to make a picture by all canons of beauty of the past time.

8. Exhibition of ceramics and master class with Ivan Prividiuc in the museum courtyard.

9. Tour „Panorama of Chișinău at Night", which was one of the main points of the program of the Night of Museums in 2012. In cooperation with the City Hall of Chisinau and the Chisinau City Bus Fleet there was organized a pilot route "National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova - Museum of History of Chișinău (Mateevici Street)". Every half hour a bus traveled between the two museums, allowing the visitors to admire the panorama of Chișinău at night from the terrace on the tower, which houses the museum of city history.

10. Raffle Night of Museums 2012 with the special prize for visitors - a bicycle „Giant SNAP 21" provided by „DAAC-VELO-SPORT" S.R.L. The bicycle was won by Mikhail Lavrovsky.

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#Exhibit of the Month

Altar Gospel (1890)

The European Night of Museums 2012

19 May 2012

#Exhibit of the Month