#Exhibit of the Month

Around thirty icons from the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova feature Saint Nicholas the Hierarch and Miracle Worker. While most represent the later iconographic tradition, a few early images stand out as rare examples due to their composition.
In the icon "Saint Nicholas with Scenes from His Life", the hierarch is depicted bust-length, blessing the Gospel. He is framed by two round medallions showing Christ and the Mother of God, who hand him the Gospel and the omophorion. Saint Nicholas, earlier than other saints, was portrayed with scenes from his hagiographic cycle. The first images of his life date back to the 11th century, represented on a folding icon from the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Sinai.

The museum icon dates from the early 19th century, preserving the traditional chest format typical of classical icons. Twelve panels illustrate episodes from the saint's life, arranged from left to right: four on the upper register, four on the lower, and two on each side, as follows: Birth of Saint Nicholas (1), Baptism of Saint Nicholas (2), Miracle of Healing the Crippled Woman (3), Apprenticeship of Young Nicholas (4), Ordination as Deacon (5), Ordination as Bishop (6) Vision of Constantine (7), Saint Nicholas Saves Three Voivodes from Execution (8), Miracle of Rescue from Drowning (9), Miracle of Saving Basil from the Arabs (10), Dormition of Saint Nicholas (11), Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas to Bari (12).

Saint Nicholas the Hierarch is commemorated by the Orthodox Church twice a year: on December 6/19, the day of his birth, and on May 9/22, the day his relics were transferred from Myra to Bari (1087). Among all saints of the Christian world, the image of Saint Nicholas is one of the most popular, easily recognizable even to those unfamiliar with iconography.

He was born in the Roman Empire, at Patara in the province of Lycia, between 260-280, though early sources omit the exact date. Coming from a wealthy family, he rejected fame and luxury. From an early age he devoted himself to prayer and the study of Holy Scripture, while also mastering other disciplines. He avoided noisy gatherings and idle talk, attended church regularly, and pursued a life of chastity. Later he dedicated himself to pastoral ministry, defending the Christian faith with perseverance and firmly opposing heresies.
Through his care for people and the benefactions he performed everywhere, he became highly venerated not only in Myra but also in the surrounding regions. The grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart was revealed through miracles performed both during his life and after his death, earning him the enduring title of "Miracle Worker." Saint Nicholas passed away in the 330s (circa 334-337), and his remains were placed in a sumptuous marble tomb in the episcopal cathedral where he had served for many years. This soon became an important center of pilgrimage.
Holy Tradition has preserved with accuracy the features of his portrait, and his appearance in icons is marked by a distinct individuality. Ecclesiastical art has produced numerous iconographic representations, ranging from bust images to full-length depictions. The diversity of these representations suggests that the final iconography of Saint Nicholas was not yet established, taking shape only in the 10th-11th centuries. It is said that an authentic icon from the basilica in Myra, executed during the saint's lifetime and mentioned in written sources as early as the 11th century, played a significant role in his veneration.
Icons depicting the hagiographic cycle of Saint Nicholas spread widely in both Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, confirming the importance and popularity of his cult.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“ArheOS
- when anthropologist and archaeologists make bones to speak”

June 13 - November 10, 2019

"Archeology is anthropology or nothing" used to say the famous American archaeologists Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958, thus theorizing a course of research in archeology that, although understood by many, was practiced by very few. The two set the objectives of archaeological research as studying and solving human, cultural and social problems, and anthropology became a tool of obtaining that information and knowledge.

In complex archaeological research, absolutely all recovered fragments are important, whether they represent the results of human activity - artifacts (ceramics, clothing and ornaments, tools made of different materials, weapons, etc.) or osteological material itself. Their interdisciplinary research provides additional data to help complete the daily picture and work of the past.

This exhibition, which brings together archeological artifacts of particular importance, through the sum of their knowledge and osteological materials of special significance, represents a "bridge" through which today's archaeologists and anthropologists "speak" with our predecessors. By analyzing them, we can now know what physical activity they have had, why diseases have suffered and how they have tried to treat some, what were the conditions they lived and what they fed, what rituals they practiced and what has remained behind them. Their histories are fascinating, and their secrets are revealed.

The narrative behind this exhibition was born in the context of extensive research on the human skeleton in recent years, which has often become an avoided subject in different societies. Viewed and accepted differently, often with negative connotations, the skeleton represents for researchers a valuable source of information. Treated and interpreted with great care for all the details, it helps to reconstitute scenes and aspects of the lives of long gone human communities.

The exhibition presents, in chronological order, funerary complexes from the Paleolithic to the Middle Ages, associated with the inventory of graves, sometimes richer, sometimes more austere, defining and representative for the periods concerned. The most spectacular cases recorded by archaeological and anthropological science are highlighted: skulls with intentional ritual deformations, skulls with traces of "surgical" interventions, bones with traces of pathologies or traumas, are the messengers through which we are now closer to the life, activity, spirituality and beliefs of the past.

The concern for the body manifested more or less by man, has left legible traces in our bone matrix since old times. Whether it took the form of aesthetic care, whether it was in the curative field, all the actions to which the skeleton was subjected left its mark on the surface or in the structure of the bones.

Communicating with the people of the past becomes even more interesting the more unusual are the stories that are hidden in their bones.

The exhibition project „ArheOS: when anthropologists and archaeologists make bones to speak" is the achievement of an extraordinary team, it is the cumulative effort of some major and important research institutions: National Museum of History of Moldova and the Anthropological Research Center „Olga Necrasov", the Romanian Academy - Iaşi Branch, Romania.

Curators: drd. Mariana Vasilache-Curoșu (Chișinău) and dr. Angela Simalcsik (Iași).