#Exhibit of the Month

The Roman bronze situla comes from a collection of archaeological artifacts confiscated at customs and transferred to the holdings of the National Museum of History of Moldova in 2009. Its place of discovery remains unknown.

A situla (Latin for "bucket") is a metal vessel-usually made of bronze-shaped like a pail and equipped with two movable handles at the top, traditionally used for mixing wine with water. The handles are attached to the vessel via two decorated ears that are welded to the rim.

The body of the situla is truncated-conical in shape and features two decorative bands with small circular patterns formed by hammering, located just below the rim.

Its base is double-layered: the inner bottom is hemispherical and hammered, while the outer bottom is flat and lathe-made. The outer base is welded to the inner bottom, serving as the vessel's foot-support.

This object was crafted using a combination of casting, hammering, and partial lathe-finishing. Dimensions: Maximum height - 31.7 cm; Maximum diameter - 22.8 cm; Base diameter - 13.5 cm

Situlae of this type originated in the Roman Empire and were later adopted by various ancient peoples, including those from the northwestern Pontic region.

Virtual Tour

14th Numismatics Symposium

On 26th and 28th September, 2013 at the National History Museum of Moldova there was held the 14th Numismatics Symposium organized in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology „Vasile Pârvan” of the Romanian Academy from Bucharest and the Numismatic Society from the Republic of Moldova. The current edition was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Moldavan Leu.

This event was attended by numismatics specialists and collectors from Germany, Romania, Belarus, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine and Republic of Moldova. 33 papers were presented at the Symposium. Seven of these were focused on ancient numismatics including one paper dedicated to the coins from Tyras (E. Turovskij, Sevastopol, E. Kolesnicenko, Odesa), the other to Roman coins. There were papers of synthesis such as the contribution regarding Roman coins discovered on Republic of Moldova’s territory (M. Dima, București), papers analyzing actual problems and research perspectives of Roman coins in the area of the East-European Barbaricum (K. Myzgin, Harkov) and the problems concerning the period and the penetration ways of Roman coins in Belarus (V. Sidarovicz, Minsk). 18 presentations were dedicated to various problems connected to medieval numismatics. Of these, are remarked those concerned with Golden Hoard emissions, coins issued by Wallachia and Moldova, ottoman coins from 16th-18th cc. and West-European numismatics. There were also presented papers on phaleristics and heraldry.

All presentations are important contributions to the field of numismatics and the study of monetary circulation on the territory of Moldova from oldest times to present, to regional economic history and valorification of monetary discoveries.

On September 28th, 2013, was organized a visit at „A.S. Pușkin” Museum from Chișinău and „Moșia Ralli” Museum House from v. Dolna, Strășeni.

The programme and paper abstracts can be found here.

Main sponsor of the Symposium was BC Victoriabank S.A.

#Exhibit of the Month

Roman Bronze Situla (1st century BC – 2nd century AD)

14th Numismatics Symposium

#Exhibit of the Month