#Exhibit of the Month

Buckles (paftale) are an almost indispensable element of traditional women's dress in the Southeastern European area, particularly in the Balkans, and have been in use over a long period, from the 14th to the 20th century.
The word pafta is of Turkic origin-possibly entering the language via Iranian influence-derived from the Persian word bafta, meaning "woven," which evolved in Turkish to signify "plate." Today, the term is used in nearly identical forms in Romanian (pafta), Bulgarian (пафта), Serbian (пафте), and some Aromanian dialects (pafta), designating functional and ornamental clothing accessories used to fasten belts, girdles, or sashes, crafted from various materials and decorated using different techniques.
The three buckles decorated in the polychrome enamel technique, preserved in the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova, belong to the South-Danubian tradition and are dated to the late 19th - early 20th century.

Each buckle consists of two identical trapezoidal parts, their surfaces divided into three roughly equal registers, adorned with stylized vegetal motifs forming a metal lattice into which enamel is poured. The two parts extend into sharp angles at the ends, forming a triangle with the edge of the last decorative register, similarly ornamented. The enamel used to fill the floral motifs is black, turquoise, white, orange, green, yellow, and burgundy. The entire decorative field is framed by a beaded border.

On the reverse, both components retain a copper band riveted along the edge, used to fasten the ends of the belt. The fastening system, made by interlocking the hinges of the two parts and secured with a movable pin attached by a chain to a clasp fixed on one of the buckle pieces, is concealed by a rectangular plate (riveted with three pins to the body of the piece), with narrow edges ending in sharp angles, decorated in the same style and technique. Additionally, it features three circular settings with notched edges bent inward to hold centrally placed red and green glass paste. These settings are framed by a radiant, notched band.

The symbolism of the color palette encodes meanings and symbols, chosen for their believed magical powers. Red has always represented love, affection, and protection against curses and the evil eye; white symbolizes purity and spiritual and physical cleanliness; blue is symbolically associated with infinity, morning, new beginnings, and transformation; green represents destiny, hope, prosperity, balance, and rebirth, being linked to nature's revival each spring and to life itself.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

The compartment of Ancient and Early Medieval History

(Permanent Exhibition “History and Civilization”)

Roman period is represented by various items, including a series of Roman bronze and clay vessels found in a Sarmatian tomb near the village of Olanesti, among which there is a rarity - a clay pot in the shape of a ram.

The compartment of Ancient and Early Medieval History

Multiple gray wares, adornments made of semiprecious stones, bone, and shells, clasps of precious metals belong to the 1st - 3rd centuries AD.

As a result of invasions occurred during the Migration Period and disappearance of the Santana de Mures - Chernyakhov culture (the 3rd - 4th centuries AD) the present-day territory of the Republic of Moldova was terribly devastated. This led to degradation of all spheres of economic and social life of the natives. In the 6th century Slavic tribes moving to the Balkans penetrated the territories inhabited by tenuous Romanic population. Under their influence there occurred changes in the material culture of the Romance.

The settlements are small. Population dwelled in huts which were half-depth in the ground and heated by stone ovens. The main concerns were agriculture and animal husbandry. A certain place in everyday life there had crafts. In contrast to the previous period, potteries were made by hand without using a potter's wheel. Most of the tools are made of bone, horn, and stone. Metal objects are very rare, but not missing.

Archaeological materials from the 6th - 7th centuries AD discovered during investigations of many settlements and necropolises in the Prut-Dniester area reflect the life and activities of the Eastern Romance and aliens in a period marked by major social, economic, and cultural transformations.

Early medieval era is represented by material culture of the first pre-state formations (the 9th - 12th centuries) and early states (the 13th - 14th centuries): vessels, tools, adornments and clothing items, pectoral crosses.

These findings testify to the existence of certain exchange relationships of the Eastern Romance with the neighboring communities, especially the Byzantine Empire. Among these items there are amphorae and vessels made on the potter's wheel, bronze adornments, coins, etc.