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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.

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Events Archive

XXXth Annual Scientific Conference with International Participation “History. Archeology. Museology” held online

Chișinău, October 29-30, 2020

 
The annual scientific conference held by the National Museum of History of Moldova over the years has turned into a prestigious forum that brings together famous historians, archaeologists and museographers from the country and abroad. This year's conference communications featured thematic diversity, new methodological approaches, and interdisciplinary research. A significant part of the communications was based on the results of new archaeological investigations, the study of original archival sources, offering new interpretations of known sources.

The conference brought together over 90 participants from 10 countries: Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Georgia, and the Russian Federation.

During the two days of the conference, 65 communications of researchers from different institutions were heard: from museums (Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Russian Federation): the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the Odessa Museum of Archeology (Ukraine), the Moldova National Museum Complex Iaşi (Romania), the Arad Museum Complex, the Vasile Goldiş Western University (Arad), the Kuskovo Museum (Moscow), the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences; from universities (Moldova, Germany, Russian Federation, Romania, Poland, France, Georgia): the Moldova State University, the Ion Creangă State University, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), the Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don (Russian Federation), the Wallachia University of Târgovişte (Romania), Université Sorbonne, Paris (France), the University of Bucharest, the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi, the Jagiellonian University, Kraków (Poland), the West University of Timişoara, the Tbilisi State University (Georgia), the Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don (Russian Federation), the St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (Russian Federation), the Saint Petersburg State University (Russian Federation), and other academic institutions (Moldova, Russian Federation, Romania, Lithuania, Tajikistan: the Institute of History of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, the Institute of Archeology of the Romanian Academy Iaşi Branch), the Olga Necrasov Center for Anthropological Research of the Romanian Academy (Iaşi Branch) (Romania), the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russian Federation), the N.N. Miklouho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), the Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius (Lithuania), the Faculty of Philosophy of the Oryol State University (Russian Federation), the A. Donish Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, the Center for Written Heritage of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia), the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia). The full program of the conference can be found here.

We express our gratitude to all the participants of this conference.



 
 


Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
  

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#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....

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
 Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
 Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
 Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
 Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2025 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
 Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
 Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC