The exhibit represents a fragment from a unique amphora discovered in 1988 in a ceramic kiln from the Chirileni III settlement (Sîngerei district), attributed to the Cucuteni-Tripolie archaeological culture stage CII (5th-4th millennia BC).
The ceramic fragment with painted human and geometric representations constitutes about 50% of the upper part of an amphora, made of clay paste without impurities. It is burned in an oxidizing environment, with a reddish color in the section. The inner surface of the vessel is covered with a pink-whitish color layer, and the smoothed and polished exterior is covered with a yellowish-gray engobe start. The body of the amphora is spheroidal with four pyramidal cakes on the shoulder, and the neck is high frustoconical with a short outwardly turned lip. The dimensions of the bowl: lip diameter - 18 cm; maximum body diameter - 43-45 cm; neck height - 13 cm; height of exposed fragment - 43 cm; the estimated total height of the vessel is 55-60 cm. Thickness at the lip - 6-7 mm, at the neck - 9-11 mm, and at the body - 10-13 mm.
The outer surface of the amphora in a proportion of about 4/5, except for the lower part, is bicolorly decorated with black and brown paint, the brush being used as a tool, which can be felt from the specific application of the lines. Two brushes were most likely used. The ornament is divided into three horizontal registers that surround the vessel dividing the interior into metopes. The decoration is composed of lines arranged vertically, horizontally or obliquely forming geometric compositions of the net type.
The special significance of the amphora resides in the representation in the middle register of the painting of the stylized scene of a female ritual dance. The scene painted on the body of the amphora represents the image of a group made up of 9 female characters assisted by two dogs and 3 snakes. The female images are represented schematically, with the emphasis on long legs, mini-trapezoidal skirts, short stretched bodies, folded dancing hands and pointed heads.
Vessels with painted anthropomorphic representations are very rare, being around 140 images of this kind known so far in the entire area of spread of the Cucuteni-Tripoli culture.
Based on the analysis of the shape of the vessel, the specific decoration and the context of the discovery, it can be admitted that the amphora from Chirileni belongs to the cult of the Mother Woman, the Great Goddess worshiped by the Eneolithic populations.
The establishment and activity of Lancasterian schools in Bessarabia in the 1820s-1840s
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
In the given article the author examines the Lancasterian System of Education established in Bessarabia on May 28, 1823 at the proposal of Count I.A. Kapodistrias. Initially, these schools were opened in Chișinău, Bălți and Ismail, and later in Bender and Hotin. Education in them was based on a system of mutual learning.
The founder of the Lancasterian System of Education was an English teacher Joseph Lancaster, who was teaching poor children without payment. The originality of this system is that its methods do not have a purely religious character; we can say that the teaching of religion was limited to reading the Bible without its interpretation. It should be noted that the mutual education system in Bessarabia was introduced at the behest of Alexander I.
The first Lancasterian school was opened in Chisinau on February 7, 1824 (under the leadership of Iacob Hâncu), then in Bălți – on 11 May (under the leadership of Teodor Bobeicu), and in Ismail – on 26 May of the same year (under the leadership of Lavrentiy Kunitsky). In 1824, at the request of the Rector of the Chișinău Theological Seminary V. Purishkevich there have been established two schools: the first one was opened on March 13 in Bender, having as a teacher the graduate of the Theological Seminary Andrei Timoshevsky, and the second – on December 7 in Hotin, having as a teacher the graduate of the same Seminary Ioan Rodostat. In 1833, in these 5 Lancasterian schools there were studying 375 students: in the school from Chișinău - 136 students, from Ismail – 77, from Balti – 40, from Hotin – 73 and from Bender – 49 students. Apart from these fi ve schools, in this period a Lancasterian school was functioning in the Bulgarian colony of Bolgrad in the Ismail County. In 1843 Lancasterian schools were also opened in Orhei, Soroca, Cahul, and on August 14, 1846 the second such a school was established in Chișinău.
To maintain Lancasterian schools in Bessarabia there were spent annually 3780 assignation roubles. But the Lancasterian schools have not received much popularity among the population, and attempts to establish these schools in villages were unsuccessful. At the end of the 1840s some of them, except the Chișinău Lancasterian School, were transformed into preparatory classes of the county gymnasiums, while others merged with the new parochial schools, which started to appear in Bessarabia under the Regulation of parochial schools in 1836.
Valentin Tomuleț, Alexandru Bordian
Priority directions in trade and customs policy of tsarism in Bessarabia in the first third of the 19th century
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
The legal status of călărași in Bessarabia: from Moldovan traditions to the Russian imperial administrative system
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Mazili and ruptași (and other social categories) in the statistics of the 1817 census
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Валентин Томулец, Сергей Сычёв
The political parties and significant personalities of the Bessarabian Zemstvo (1869-1917)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Valentin Tomuleț
Maria Danilov, Cenzura sinodală și cartea religioasă în Basarabia. 1812-1918 (între tradiție și politica țaristă), Biblioteca Tyragetia XIII. – Chișinău, 2007 (Tipogr. „Bons Offi ces”), 264 p.
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
The exhibit represents a fragment from a unique amphora discovered in 1988 in a ceramic kiln from the Chirileni III settlement (Sîngerei district), attributed to the Cucuteni-Tripolie archaeological culture stage CII (5th-4th millennia BC)...
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.
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.
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.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
