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#Exhibit of the Month

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The ceramic vessel set was discovered accidentally in October 2025 in the southwestern part of the village of Bălceana, Hâncești District, approximately 1.2 km from the Lăpușnița River. The archaeological materials were recovered by the National Archaeological Agency.

The ceramic assemblage consists of a large storage vessel (pithos) with a capacity of 20 litres (h = 39.2 cm; d = 35.0 cm), decorated with a raised band below the rim; a medium-sized bowl with a capacity of 2.5 litres (h = 16.9 cm; d = 23.2 cm); a medium-sized jug with a capacity of 0.6 litres (h = 12.0 cm; d = 13.4 cm); and the base of a jar-shaped vessel.

The coarse handmade pottery was produced using the coil-building technique, by stacking and shaping coils of clay prepared from a paste tempered with crushed fired clay (grog) and sand. The vessel surfaces are uneven and covered with a yellowish-red slip featuring black patches, while the core of the vessel walls is black in colour.

The three vessels preserved intact display well-defined biconical shapes, with their maximum diameter at the middle of the body and straight or slightly oblique rims with rounded edges. Pottery of this type is characteristic of the Early Medieval cultural area of the northern and northwestern Black Sea region, dating from the 5th to the 7th centuries. East of the Dniester River, on the territory of present-day Ukraine, analogous pottery is found in Penkovka-type settlements, while in the Carpathian-Dniester region it is characteristic of settlements belonging to the Costișa-Botoșana-Hansca cultural group.

Within the Prut-Dniester region, coarse biconical pottery is generally represented by fragments and only relatively rarely by complete vessels, such as those discovered at Hansca, Dănceni, Recea, Seliște, Păhărniceni, and other sites. This type of pottery constituted an indispensable component of the local material culture during the 5th-7th centuries. In this context, the discovery at Bălceana of an almost intact set of coarse biconical vessels represents a relatively rare find of considerable scientific importance.

According to certain hypotheses, the tradition of coarse biconical pottery dating to the 5th-7th centuries originated in the North Pontic region. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that these biconical ceramic vessels were the result of contemporary ethnocultural interactions, developing simultaneously across the vast territory extending from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dnieper River and the Seversky Donets.

Virtual Tour


Exhibitions

Exhibition of Christmas Trees

November 20th – 10th December 10th, 2015

For three weeks the National Museum of History of Moldova hosted the 5th edition of the Exhibition of Christmas Trees. The exhibition is part of the contest „Ball of Christmas Trees" project - a unique contest of creativity and design targeting young talented students from Republic of Moldova, initiated and supported by Nata Albot and Viorica Nagacevschi, founders of NGO „KLumea".

 The Ball of Christmas Trees
This year, unlike previous editions, not only art students got engaged in the competition but also consecrated artists. The exhibition organized by „Klumea" team gathered 57 handcrafted art works made using different techniques by students from the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts, the Technical University of Moldova and experienced artists. They competed in originality and craftsmanship, making their trees of different materials, such as glass, wood, metal, textiles, paper, quail eggs and feathers, decorated with spoons, paintings, musical notes, boots, paint tubes, pillows, thread balls and all kind of toys.

In the exhibition were presented also five threes created by Hospice Angelus, Boarding Girls School from Hâncești, Center for children with autism "Puzzle Kids", National Association "Defeat cystic fibrosis" and Foundation "Good Heart". These trees did not participate in the context.

5467 exhibition visitors had the opportunity to vote for the dearest tree based on the entrance ticket and to participate in a silent auction of exhibited artworks. The auction consisted in writing the amount of money to be donated on a list attached to the tree.

At the exhibition closing, a jury of five members, which included organizers, sponsors and journalists, announced the winners of the three prizes. The most beautiful trees in the competition were announced in the evening of December 11th in an auction event.

The 1st Prize was won by Oxana Turtureanu, student at AMTFA for the tree „Dor de dor" (7000 lei, gifts and a trip to Poland offered by the Cultural Institute „Adam Mickiewicz" of Warsaw). The 2nd Prize was won by Andrei Brânza, student at TUM with the tree „Ciclice" (Cyclic) and Valentin Bostan, student at AMTFA, with the tree „Lacrima unui popor" (Teardrop of nation) (5000 lei and gifts). The 3rd Prize was won by Alexandru Terenti, student at TUM for the tree „West wood" (2000 lei and gifts). The prize "Public Sympathy" went to Ecaterina Căpățină and Vadim Antoni for the tree „Nemurire" (Immortality) with most votes form exhibition visitors (3000 lei and gifts).

Half of the money raised in the auction returned to the tree creators and the other half went to project „Arterapia" initiated by KLumea for decoration of children hospitals' interiors from Chișinău.


 




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
  
September 25, 2025 – September 1, 2026
 
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#Exhibit of the Month

The ceramic vessel set was discovered accidentally in October 2025 in the southwestern part of the village of Bălceana, Hâncești District, approximately 1.2 km from the Lăpușnița River. The archaeological materials were recovered by the National Archaeological Agency...

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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.
©2006-2026 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.
©2006-2026 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.
©2006-2026 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