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#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.

Virtual Tour


Exhibitions

“Science and Society in Bessarabia of the Modern Times”

(April 30 – October 1, 2010)

The exhibition is organized in partnership with the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History, the National Library, and the Museum of Romanian Literature. The exhibition aims to familiarize the public with the history of science in Bessarabia in the modern times. For the first time there were combined and exhibited the most important museum collections reflecting the works and daily activity of Bessarabian scientists (documents, books, photographs, personal things, awards, etc.) Having been organized for familiarization of cultural and scientific values kept in different collections, the exhibition also has some collateral objectives:

-    making-up of estimative/evaluative inventory of the museum collections in the field of “the development of science” in Bessarabia in the 19th – early 20th centuries;

-    reconstruction of some exhibition segments presenting the evidences of the place and role of science in the development of Bessarabian society.

    Due to these 222 exhibits the visitors can discover a significant chapter in the history of the Bessarabian science in the modern times. The exhibition includes items which belonged to Alexandru Sturdza, Alexandru Hajdau, Costache Stamati, Alexis Nacu, Stefan Margela, Iacob Hancu, Bogdan P.Hasdeu, Polihronie Sircu, Alexander Yatsimirsky, Leon Casso, Arseny Stadnitsky, Zamfir Arbore, Ion Surucean, Axente Fruna. Being an expression of the creative power of several generation of the Bessarabians for more than a century, these valuable items (studies and research monographs, journals, annals of scientific societies, manuals) constitute an evidence of a great cultural raising  in Bessarabia under the influence of Russian culture (after 1812). In a whole, the exhibits are an expression of a message through the works of high culture – the message of the resistance and victory of the Bessarabian Romanians in the time of the foreign domination.

      Scientific life in Bessarabia in the first half of the 19th century is presented in the exhibition through the activity of some scientific societies which had their headquarters in Odessa (Bessarabia was the administrative authority of the Governor-General of New Russia):

- The Imperial Agricultural Society of South Russa (1828) (the Bessarabian A. Sturdza was one of its establishers and its vice-president between 1833 – 1847);

- The Odessa Society of History and Antiquities (1839). In the journal of this society there were published many works written in the first half of the 19th century by the Bessarabians:  Alexander Sturdza,  Costache Stamati, Alexis Nacu, Carol and Matei Cotruta, Ion Surucean and others.

In the exhibition there are used a series of works written by foreign authors during the 19th century. These works constitute an impressive part of scientific research carried out by the imperial order in and about Bessarabia (A. Egunov, L. Berg, A. Zashchuk, P. Batyushkov, etc.). Simultaneously, there are exhibited works of Bessarabian authors, which were written or published in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Bucharest (Stefan Margela, Iacob Hancu, Polihronie Sircu, Alexander Yatsimirsky,  Leon Casso, Arseny Stadnitsky, Zamfir Arbore, etc). By the end of the 19th century the historical investigations carried out by several generations of Bessarabians resulted in delineation of research priorities:

-    Ion Surucean has laid the foundations of local epigraphy
-    Ion Halippa is the founder of local archive studies
-    A. Yatsivirsky and Polihronie Sircu are the founders of Bessarabian Slavic studies.
In the late 19th – early 20th centuries in Bessarabia there is a tendency of association in societies and scientific organizations. Their activities also are reflected in the exhibition:
-    Scientific Commission for Archives from Bessarabia (1898)
-    Historical and Archaeological Church Society (1904)
-    Society of Naturalists (1904), an exemplary centre of high scientific and practical organization in the field of agricultural research. Its activity is directly related to the establishment an activity of the Zemstvo Museum (collection of documents, photographs, entomological and ornithological exhibits). The work of the society is in line with local tradition in the field: College of Horticulture (1842) was the first agricultural research centre in Bessarabia (N. Mogilyansky, N. Zubovsky, N. Dimo, M. Pautynsky, P. Ungureanu).

Finally, in the exhibition there are presented a series of publications from 1912, original scientific papers, which are a national treasure (albums, calendars, studies, etc.). On the walls of the exhibition room there are photographs of the universities from St. Petersburg, Sorbonne, and Odessa; statutes of the scientific societies; a gallery of portraits of scientists from Bessarabia.

-Nicolai Dimo (in center) in his laboratory-
 
 
-Topographic investigations-
 
 

 




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

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.
©2006-2025 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