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The great ruler Stephen the Great, outstanding army commander and diplomat, was also concerned during his life with the economic prosperity of the country, supporting the development of crafts, trade and fairs. During his reign, groși and half groși minted in the dinar system were issued, a monetary system introduced in Moldova during the last reign of Petru Aron (1455-1457).

The coins were minted from silver of superior title, those that reflect stability in the economic life of the country at that time. Their masterful execution at the Suceava mint is among the beautiful artistic achievements during the reign of Stephen the Great.

During his reign, two types of issues were minted, for the two denominations: groși and half groși.

Type I issues have a split shield on the obverse; in the first quarter appears a rose surmounted by a cross and three fascias, in the second quarter. For the epigraph issues (groși), the image is accompanied by the circular legend with the name of the issuer: + STEFANVS VOIEVODA. On the other side appears the bour's head with a star between the horns accompanied by the heraldic furniture - the rose and the contoured crescent, placed to the right and left of the bour's head; circular legend: MOLDAVIE COIN.

On type II coins in the shield on the obverse appears a patriarchal cross (double) and the legend STEFANVSVOIEVOD or abbreviated STEFANVSVOIE. On the reverse, as in type I, the bour's head with heraldic attributes is preserved: rose right/crescent left and crescent right/rose left. A star or rose appears between the ox's horns. The legend accompanying the face with the bour head is MONETAMOLDAVI or abbreviated MONETAMOLDA.

The dating of Stephen the Great's coins is still under discussion. According to one opinion, type I issues were minted between 1457-1476, and type II between 1480/1481-1505 (Octavian Iliescu), and another 1465/1467-1475/1476 for type I and 1476/1479-1497 for type II (Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu).

The coins in this showcase were discovered during the archaeological excavations at Orheiul Vechi (Trebujeni, Orhei district) in the 6th and 7th decades of the 20th century:

1. Type I money issues, groși, silver
2. Type II money issues, groși, silver
3. Type II coin issue, half groși, silver

Virtual Tour


Publications Journal „Tyragetia"   vol. V [XX], nr. 1


Finds of coins in the late medieval cemetery of the Măzărache Church in Chișinău (excavations of 2010)
ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Finds of coins in the late medieval cemetery of the Măzărache Church in Chișinău (excavations of 2010)

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică

In summer 2010 there were carried out the first archaeological saving excavations in the old, historical part of Chișinău. Oral tradition and written sources indicate that the historical heart of Chișinău was located in the lower part of the modern city, by the river of Bâc. Apparently, the locality emerged by a spring had already existed in the second half of the 14th century, before the ousting of the Golden Horde from the south-eastern part of the Carpathian-Dniester area in 1370s - 1380s. On the opposite, left bank of the river a Tartar settlement was located.

On the right bank of the Bâc River, on the top of a hill with a spring at the foot, there is the Intercession of the Virgin (“Măzărache”) Church that was built, by different opinions, in 1739-1740 (Eșanu 1998, 56), 1742 (Ciocanu 2002, 39-43), or, according to other information, in 1752 (Chișinău 1984, 324). It was erected on the site of another, more ancient wooden church that had been burnt by the Turkish army in 1739 during the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739 (Eșanu 2001, 147).

In the course of the archaeological excavations there have been revealed some ceramic materials of the Late Bronze and the Early Iron Ages as well as numerous evidences of the medieval time. A ditch dated, apparently, from the 16th-17th centuries that closed the access to the promontory and remnants of a ground dwelling with a stone basement of the 17th-18th centuries are of the greatest interest. Here we found well preserved remains of a monumental architectural structure of red brick defined as an aqueduct constructed by A. Bernardazzi in the end of the 19th century (Bubis 1997, 59-62).

The excavations were conducted in the south-western periphery of the cemetery and directly at the northern apse of the church. In the area of about 100 m2 there were investigated 52 burials. The vast majority of them were of the Christian rite. Inventory of the burials is rather poor. In different burials there were found from one to five coins; bone, bronze or silver buttons; earrings; pottery fragments; rings; etc. During the investigation of the cemetery of the Măzărache Church in the historical part of Chisinau there were found 29 coins. 13 ones belong to the Hungarian issues of the 16th - early 17th centuries, one silver coin is a “poltorak” of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the early 17th century and the other is Swedish shilling of the second half of the same century. The third undefined poorly-preserved European coin presumably belongs to these issues. Turkish coins (13 pieces) are in the majority of the 18th -nearly 19th century. Only three of them belong to the 16th-17th centuries.

As a result of the investigations in the cemetery it also can be stated that already in the second half of the 16th century the space of the promontory around the supposed wooden church was entirely occupied by burials of the local Christian community. The last burials were carried out in the first two decades of the 19th century, when a stone fence was built around the church.

List of figures:
Fig. 1. Coins found during the investigations of the Măzărache Church cemetery in Chișinău.

Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici, Angela Simalcsik
A cremation burial of a horseman near the village of Mana (the Orhei district)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică Chișinău, 2015
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici
Early medieval hoard of forging and jewelry tools found at Voloave, Soroca District
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIV [XXIX], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică, Chişinău, 2020
Ion Tentiuc
Aspects of funeral rite and ritual in the Prut-Dniester region in the early Middle Ages (The Molești-Ialoveni necropolis)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică Chișinău, 2007
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici
The hoard of early medieval tools and weapons found at Sadova-Călăraşi, the Republic of Moldova
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIII [XXVIII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică
Ion Tentiuc, Valeriu Bubulici
An incineration burial in metal urn (2nd-3rd c. AD) discovered at Iagorlîc, Dubăsari
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XII [XXVII], nr. 1, Arheologie. Istorie Antică



 

 

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Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
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Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
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Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
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#Exhibit of the Month

The great ruler Stephen the Great, outstanding army commander and diplomat, was also concerned during his life with the economic prosperity of the country, supporting the development of crafts, trade and fairs. During his reign, groși and half groși minted in the dinar system were issued, a monetary system introduced in Moldova during the last reign of Petru Aron (1455-1457)...

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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.
©2006-2024 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

 



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.
©2006-2024 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

menu
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.
©2006-2024 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