Old Orhei - an open-air museum

Old Orhei is a medieval city, the most interesting museum complex, existing since the time of settlement of the Transnistrian territories of the Thracian settlements of the Geto-Daks. Twice destroyed and twice rose from the ruins thanks to the Moldavian rulers and the Turks-destroyers.

• The first stop in the museum complex is the fortress of Pyrkelab Gangur, dating back to the reign of Stefan the Great. The great Moldavian sovereign waged a fierce struggle against an enemy of varying strength, but he saw the most important defense in fortified buildings in those parts of the country where the landscape allows you to see the most open territories, from where an unexpected attack can occur.

• Near the parking lot, tourists can visit the museum of archaeological finds, which concentrates all the elements of dishes of different times and settlements, tools, household items that were found in numerous soil layers of different periods.

• For many centuries, every nation has had religious traditions that are respected and passed on from generation to generation. On the territory of the museum occult, we can visit two objects of religious culture: the Holy Dormition Rock Church, created by hermit monks in the XII-XIII centuries and the church, which was built by the Turks at the beginning of the XV century, when the city of Shehr al-Jedid existed on this territory. If you go a little further along the banks of the Reut River, you can go to two more small rooms carved into the rock - the monastery of Bossia, the Moldavian pirkelab of the XVII century. There are even inscriptions on the walls in Russian and Old Slavonic.

• It is impossible to pass by the place where the very first fortification belonging to the Geto-Dacian period was located. The northern Thracians chose open areas at high altitudes for their settlements to observe from all sides where danger might be approaching. Unfortunately, nothing remains but mentions of these buildings, but archaeologists claim that it was here that the first Moldavian villages were born. This is evidenced by three circles on the earth, marked by simple stones. This is a kind of astronomical calendar, according to which our great-grandfathers calculated days, months, years and time of day according to the sun.

• If you go down to the village of Butuchany, then be sure to go to a small Moldovan house of a rural type. This is an example of the dwelling in which the majority of the Moldavian population lived until the end of the XIX - early XX centuries. Here you will see the famous “casa mare”, decorated with handmade products, a loom, a home cellar and utensils, which has long gone out of wide use, but remained as a museum exhibit. After walking a little further along the village, go to another rural house, painted in the national style by a good-natured owner. There is a large collection of antiques of rural life, which people find in their gardens.

- guide services

Transportation service (car up to 3 people)

- entrance tickets to the museum.