The Paleontology Museum in Duruitoarea Veche

Why a paleontology museum exists in a village

Because the village sits on one of the richest prehistoric sites in the region. The Duruitoarea Veche cave nearby was excavated for almost two decades, after the archaeologist Nicolae Chetraru found it in 1958. About 10,000 bone remains came out of it, in which 54 mammal species and 29 bird species were identified, along with tools of flint, antler and bone.

Some of the larger pieces went to Chisinau, to the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History. The rest, together with everything villagers have found over the years while ploughing or digging foundations, stayed here.

What you see inside

The museum has two halves that complete each other.

The paleontology half: fossils and bones from the gorge, flint points, fragments of ice age fauna. These are animals long gone from the hills around: wild horses, bison, reindeer, red deer, mammoths, beavers. The cases are not spectacular the way they are in big museums, but every piece was found a few steps from here.

The ethnographic half: embroidered towels, household objects, tools, things donated by people in the village. It is the other half of the story, that is what happened in this valley after the ice melted.

Who made it

The village museum was set up by people from the community, among them the mayor Dragos Paniru and Raisa Tomuz. It was not a project with a large budget, but a collection that grew out of what people brought in.

That explains the tone of the place as well. It is not a museum that lectures you from above, but one where the guide shows you a piece and tells you which hill it came from.

Visit it before the cave, not after

This is the most useful advice for the day. If you go straight to the gorge, you see a handsome cliff with a hole in it, and that is about all. Once you have seen in the cases what came out of those layers, the teeth, the tools and the bones, you look at the limestone wall differently. You know at what depth each thing was found and why it matters.

The museum and the cave are close to each other, so you can see both in the same morning.

And the "Venus" of Duruitoarea

The prehistoric "Venus" figurine found at Duruitoarea Veche is worth looking up too, even though it is now in Chisinau, at the Museum of Natural History. It belongs to the family of prehistoric figurines found all across Europe.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Paleontology Museum in Duruitoarea Veche?

It is the only rural paleontology museum in the Republic of Moldova, in the village of Duruitoarea Veche, Riscani district. It holds exhibits over 250,000 years old, recovered from the excavations in the Duruitoarea gorge, plus ethnographic objects donated by villagers.

What can you see in the museum?

Fossils and bones from the gorge, flint points and prehistoric tools, fragments of ice age fauna: wild horses, bison, reindeer, red deer, mammoths, beavers. Plus an ethnographic room, with embroidered towels, household objects and tools donated by people from the village.

What does a visit to the museum cost?

The guided tour covering the museum, the cave and the Duruitoarea gorge costs 500 lei for a group of up to 10 people and 800 lei for 11 or more. It is arranged through the Hanul Cu Noroc guesthouse, at +373 798 48 077.

How long does the visit take?

The museum alone, between 30 and 45 minutes. Together with the cave and the gorge, half a day. We recommend seeing the museum first and the cave afterwards, because once you have seen what came out of the layers you look at the gorge differently.

Where is it in relation to the guesthouse?

A 20 minute walk from Hanul Cu Noroc, in the same village. The cave and the gorge are next to the museum, so you can see them all in the same morning.