Traditional pottery

Pottery is one of the oldest crafts practised on the territory of today's Republic of Moldova, with roots reaching down to the Cucuteni-Trypillia civilisation, famed for its painted ceramics of almost seven millennia ago. The vessels discovered in the archaeological sites of these lands still astonish today through the elegance of their forms and through their spirals drawn with consummate assurance. Over the centuries, fired clay remained the basic material of the peasant household: pots for boiling, jugs for water and wine, bowls, dishes, candlesticks and toys for children all came from the hands of village potters.

Craft centres

Towards the end of the nineteenth century there were dozens of potters' hearths in operation, especially in the former district of Orhei. In 1894 centres were known at Cinișeuți, Iurceni, Văscăuți, Mîndra, Frumoasa, Hodinești and Păulești. At Cinișeuți, in the Rezina district, the whole village lived from pottery — hundreds of families were engaged in this craft — and it was renowned for its black ceramics, obtained through smothered firing, without oxygen, which gave the vessels a metallic, glossy colour. Today this craft has become extremely rare, with only a few keepers of the technique still alive.

Techniques and ornamentation

Moldovan ceramics are distinguished by two large families: glazed vessels, brightly coloured, and unglazed or black ceramics, more archaic. The potter kneads the clay, shapes it on the wheel, lets it dry out, then decorates it and fires it in traditional kilns. Floral ornaments, spirals, bands and zoomorphic motifs are applied with the horn or with the brush. Each hearth has its own palette and forms, passed from father to son, so that a connoisseur can recognise from a single vessel the place where it was made.

The present and its promotion

The craft survives today thanks to dedicated potters, such as Vasile Goncear of Hoginești, who has gathered an impressive collection of objects and organises a large potters' fair every year, and thanks to the "Bâlciul olarilor" (the Potters' Fair) at Iurceni, where craftsmen from Moldova and Romania exhibit their work. The "Ruta Ceramicii" (the Ceramics Route), a tourist itinerary with sites spread across several districts, links museums, workshops and archaeological sites, inviting the visitor to discover the art of clay. Pottery remains inscribed in the National Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a living testimony of cultural continuity in these lands.