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Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a Moldovei

 

 

 

 






#Exhibit of the Month

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The artifact is a battle axe made from magmatic rock (diabase) of gray-brown color. It was accidentally discovered in 1966 within the territory of Aluniș village, Rîșcani district. Based on its morphological characteristics, the artifact can be attributed to the Catacomb culture (29th-22nd centuries BCE).

The axe features a massive, elongated naviform body with slightly pronounced shoulders, a short and narrow edge that is flat and circular in cross-section. The blade is slightly curved. The hole was drilled in the maximum width of the object. It is circular in shape with a diameter of 2.2 cm. The surface of the artifact is meticulously polished, worked with great care, and shows no signs of damage or chipping.

Dimensions: Length: 20.0 cm; Maximum width: 8.4 cm; Edge diameter: 5.0 cm; Blade width: 7.0 cm; Weight: 2.3 kg.

Stone battle axes are characteristic of the Catacomb culture communities and are most often found as grave goods, deposited in tombs. Their presence in funerary complexes suggests a multifaceted functionality: weapons, social symbols, and ritual objects. Initially used as weapons, the axes became social symbols for their owners, later acquiring votive significance when deposited in tombs to serve the deceased in the afterlife.

The social symbolic function of stone battle axes is indicated by the high-quality rocks used for their manufacture and the exceptionally meticulous craftsmanship. The large dimensions of the axe from Aluniș support this hypothesis and distinguish it from other examples.

The discovery of stone battle axes outside a funerary complex may indicate their votive deposition. It is difficult to imagine that these exceptionally well-crafted pieces, made from high-quality rocks transported over great distances, could have been abandoned or lost accidentally. It is far more likely that they were deposited for magical-religious purposes, a possibility that may also apply to the stone axe discovered at Aluniș.

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Collections

Archaeological Collection
The collection consists of 47863 objects (the core fund), which came from archaeological excavations, random finds, acquisitions, donations, and transfers and date back to the Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages, Roman Era, pre-feudal period, and the Middle Ages...

Collection of Historical Exhibits


It contains the objects of historical and memorial significance, dated from the 19th - 20th centuries, which are destined to recompose the ambience of bygone centuries, to reconstruct in exhibitions the atmosphere in which Moldavian cultural, historical, and political figures of the past lived and worked....
Collection of Historical Exhibits

Collection of Arms and Armour
The Museum owns authentic weapons of the 16th – 20th centuries, of western, eastern, and Russian (for the most part) origin. The collection consists of all the types of cold steel and fire-arms: offensive, defensive, missile, and hunting weapons....

Numismatic Collection


The collection consists of: Coins of diverse times and countries of issue. There are ancient coins of Greek, Getae-Dacian, and Roman origin, medieval coins of local and foreign issues (the Ottoman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the United Provinces, Hungary, Poland, etc.); series of modern coins...
Numismatic Collection
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Exhibition Rooms
 
Red Room Bronze Room Blue Room
Red Room Bronze Room Blue Room

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 permanent exhibition of the museum is conceived and realized by a group of specialists who have chosen the way of presentation based on strict scientific subjects in accordance with chronology and supported by expressive force of exhibits, these original evidences representing the historical and archaeological heritage preserved in the museum. The exhibition space covers an area of 1,700 sq. m. and is used optimally, observing all the conservation and safety requirements.   The exhibition illustrates the history of Moldova from the oldest times to the present, in its ensemble and succession, by means of authentic and revealing exhibits, which impartially show economic, cultural, political, and social development of the human society in this geographic area in different historical times. By means of historical documentary and artistic objects the exhibition presents the originality and peculiarities of formation of the Moldavian people. Museum visitors become introduced in the atmosphere of different times by means of some explanatory exhibits and specific museum reconstructions of different social, economic, and cultural environments characteristic of different strata and stages of the development of society.



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

The artifact is a battle axe made from magmatic rock (diabase) of gray-brown color. It was accidentally discovered in 1966 within the territory of Aluniș village, Rîșcani district. Based on its morphological characteristics, the artifact can be attributed to the Catacomb culture (29th-22nd centuries BCE)...

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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

 



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