#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).

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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Events Archive

Reopening the Lazo Family Mansion

November 26, 2018

On December 2, 2018, at 12.00, was opened the permanent exhibition „Bessarabian environment - the mansion from Piatra - interconnection of historical personalities" at the Lazo Family Mansion in Piatra, a branch of the National Museum of History of Moldova. The exhibition is opened on the occasion of the completion of the interior rehabilitation works of the Lazo Family Mansion.

The mansion from Piatra, built between 1862-1865 by Ioan and Matilda Lazo, is a typical house of the mid-19th century with an architectural style close to that of the peasant houses, with the location of the chambers around the central hall. The mansion is a large building with several rooms (the original house had six rooms), an annex and a front terrace supported by eight massive round plaster pillars, with an attic located along the façade axis, also supported by two pillars of the same size. The mansion is set in the middle of a garden, facing the valley of the River Răut.

The house is valuable first of all because it has been inhabited by representatives of a noble family, and because it is itself a historical and architectural monument. The ambience of the house gathered together many Bessarabian personalities over the years. Two generations of the Lazo family spent part of their lives in this house. Today, the mansion is considered a monument of architecture, history and culture from the second half of the 19th century and is registered as a state-protected monument of national significance.

The new exhibition entitled "Bessarabian environment - the mansion from Piatra - interconnection of historical personalities", includes a living room, a dining room, a library office and a children's room. The memorial and typological pieces from the new exhibition present the material and moral ambience of the Lazo Family Mansion with several generations of this noble family, with their epoch, with all the complexities of life, emotions and facts intertwined with the history of the personalities owners of the Mansion, of living people with their visions and occupations who have been in our history and have contributed to the development of the Bessarabian society over the centuries.

Address of the Lazo Family Mansion: Piatra village, Orhei district.