National Museum of History of Moldova
Moldova's principal history museum, with a treasury, ethnography halls and a vast battle diorama.
Established on 21 December 1983 by merging the collections of the State Museum of History and the Museum of Military Glory, the National Museum of History of Moldova occupies a former regional boys' gymnasium in the centre of Chișinău. Between 1989 and 2007 it absorbed the holdings of seven other institutions that were dissolved, and it now cares for well over 300,000 items. Its remit runs from prehistory through the medieval principality of Moldavia and the Bessarabian period to the twentieth century, and it coordinates several branch museums elsewhere in the country.
The permanent displays are arranged over several floors, beginning with archaeology and continuing through medieval, modern and contemporary history. A basement treasury opened in 1994 shows objects of gold and silver, coin hoards and church plate, while a large circular diorama of the 1944 Jassy-Kishinev offensive has been open on the ground floor since 1990. In the forecourt stands a copy of the Capitoline Wolf, a gift from Rome that has become one of the best known landmarks of the capital. Temporary exhibitions change frequently.
Highlights
- Basement treasury of gold, silver and coin hoards, opened in 1994
- Circular diorama of the 1944 Jassy-Kishinev offensive
- Copy of the Capitoline Wolf standing in the museum forecourt
- Archaeology halls covering Cucuteni-Trypillia and Geto-Dacian finds
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