Today we are talking about treasures and not just any kind of treasures, but about Dacian treasures. Our colleague Dr. Răzvan Mateescu tells us the story of Decebal's treasure, where it was hidden and what value it had, as it appears from ancient texts. It seems that Trajan captured from Dacia one of the greatest treasures of antiquity, amounting to approximately 165 tons of gold and double the amount of silver. Dr. Agnes Găzdac tells us about the well-known "Koson" gold coins, of which our museum owns 26 pieces, and Dr. Cristian Găzdac tells us about the mirage of treasures and about a spectacular discovery of 40000 gold coins in a cave in the area of ​​the Dacian fortresses.

"Koson" type gold coin

Archaeological discoveries and a series of ancient representations, especially the scenes on Trajan's Column, showed that the Dacians used the sword (curved or straight), the sica (curved dagger), the stabbing knife, the lance, the spear and the bow as offensive weapons. Today, our colleagues, Dr. Gabriela Gheorghiu, Dr. Paul Pupeză and Dr. Răzvan Mateescu, tell us about fake, a curved sword with a long and narrow blade, sharp in its concave part, a rather rare type of artifact, but which you can also find in our museum collection.

Today we will learn a lot of interesting information about our city during the Roman period. Our museum has in its collection a votive inscription attesting the rank of minicipium for Napoca during the time of Emperor Hadrian, this artifact being considered a kind of birth certificate of the Roman city. But what did municipium mean, what was the Roman name of the city, what were its territorial limits, who defended it, why was it founded here and what was the importance of this city? For all these questions, receive edifying answers from our colleagues, specialists in the Roman period, Dr. Viorica Rusu Bolindeț and Dr. George Cupcea. Dr. Radu Ardevan tells us about the fate of the city after the withdrawal of the Romanian administration.

Votive altar, Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Cluj county)

[I(ovi) O(ptimo) M(aximo)] / Con(ervators) mu/nic(ipium) Aeli(um) / Hadr(ianum) Napoc(ensium) / cure IIvir(orum) q(uin)q( uennalium) / C(ai) Numer(s) Deci/ani et Iuli(i) Ingenui / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).
To Iuppiter Optimus Maximus Conservator, the municipality Aelium Hadrianum of the Napocens, through the care of the duumviri quinquennales Caius Numerius Decianus and Iulius Ingenuus, fulfilled the covenant, with pleasure and merit.

The inscription attests to the fact that Napoca had the rank of a municipium.

Votive altar, Napoca (Cluj-Napoca, Cluj county)

Libero Pa/tri deo / P(ublius) Ael(ius) Mar/cianus dec(urio) / col(oniae) Napoc(ensium) / pro sua et / suorum / v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m (erito).
To God Liber Pater, Publius Aelius Marcianus, decurion of the Napocensi colony, fulfilled the covenant with pleasure and merit, for his health and that of his people.
This altar was dedicated to Liber Pater, the Greek Dionysus, the god of wine by a decurion (member of the local senate, ordo decurionum) of the Napoca colony, Publius Aelius Marcianus, and attests to the status of the colony of Napoca.

Today, Dr. Viorica Rusu Bolindeț, Dr. Cristian Roman and Dr. Radu Ardevan tell us about some exceptional artifacts from the Roman period and about the context in which they appeared. It is about the wax tablets discovered at Alburnus Maior, today Roșia Montană.

Our museum has in its collection one of these tablets, a legal loan contract, which demonstrates how well organized the Roman legal system was, the tablets being a special source of documentation for historians studying life in Roman Dacia.

Today, Dr. Irina Nemeti talks to us about the spiritual life of the Romanians, choosing to tell us the story of two votive reliefs from the museum's collection. The artifact dedicated to the goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter, goddess of women, marriage, birth and renewal, is an opportunity to discuss religion, its official level, but also its personal one. The votive relief dedicated to the god Mithras, another important piece in our collection, provides a discussion of a very popular cult in militarized environments. Mithras was born, like Jesus, on December 25th, and was considered the god of light, sun and salvation, often invoked by soldiers who faced death and needed protection.

The Romans had a direct dialogue with the divinity through votive inscriptions. Dr. Eugenia Beu Dachin tells us about how these texts were transferred onto the stone, sometimes with language mistakes, and Sabin Grapini tells us about how such pieces can be restored, so that the details are accessible to specialists.

For those who know how to listen, everyday objects tell many stories about the lives of those who produced and used them. Today, our colleagues, specialists in the Roman period, will tell us about some objects of this kind. Dr. Cristian Roman tells us about opaițes, objects that we no longer use, but which were very present in the life of the Romans. Pottery vessels were used for lighting, but apparently had many more uses. Dr. Viorica Rusu Bolindeț tells us about the terra sigillata vessels, made in patterns, with relief decorations, luxury products that were also made in Micăsasa, in Sibiu county. The decoration of the dishes sometimes also told a story, and our colleague tells us about a Gallic potter who transposed on his dishes his own version of Trajan's victory over the Dacians.

Dr. Radu Ardevan tells us about the social and political organization in the Roman Empire, about the obligations and duties of ordinary citizens but also of decision-makers. We learn how one could gain access to a leading position in the life of the citadel, wealth being a necessary but not sufficient condition, wealth had to come from honorable sources and had to be spent honorably.

So far, I have talked about Cluj in the Roman period, about beliefs, about objects of daily life, but I have not told you how far the borders of the province stretched after the Roman conquest, because not the entire territory of today's Romania was part of Roman Dacia. The fortified border of the Roman Empire, called limes, had a total of 5000 km, of which approximately 1500 km were on the territory of our country.

Dr. Felix Marcu, the manager of the MNIT, but also the president of the Limes National Commission, tells us more about the extremely complex system of fortifications (towers, earthworks, walls, small fortifications, castles) that the Roman Empire built on the territory Romania. Dr. George Cupcea, tells us about the troops stationed on the limes, which had a role of surveillance and customs clearance of the most important access routes to Transylvania, and Dr. Ioan Opriș tells us about the reasons why the Romanians withdrew from these territories.

One of the exhibitions recently organized by MNIT, which brought together the most spectacular pieces of clothing and jewelry from the museum's pre-modern collection, was Cornucopia. Luxury in the Transylvanian noble world. Dr. Diana Iegar, the curator of the exhibition, today tells us the story of some pieces of clothing and jewelry made by hand, discovered in the crypt of the reformed church at Cetatea de Balta, where Sofia Kendi, the wife of the Transylvanian aristocrat Melchior Bogathi, his mother and grandmother were buried . These were discovered during the renovation of the church, in 1897. Dr. Ana Maria Gruia gives us more details about the specifics of artistic productions in Transylvania in the XNUMXth century, and Ioana Cova, textile restorer and conservator, tells us about how particularly fragile and precious textile heritage objects are strengthened and restored.

In medieval times, if you lived in Claudiopolis/Kolozsvár/Clausenburg, owned a house or land and paid your taxes, then you could call yourself a full-fledged townsman. Depending on the trade they practised, the townspeople organized themselves in craft associations, called guilds. The guilds had an economic, political and administrative role in the life of the city and they also ensured the costs of defense and renovation of the fortification system. Our colleague Dr. Diana Iegar tells us about the most powerful guilds in Cluj and how you could become a member of such a guild. Ioana Cova, conservator of the museum, tells us about the way of exhibiting a special object, a book of the goldsmiths' guild from Cluj, which dates back to the 16th century.

The model book of the goldsmiths' guild from Cluj, (Cluj-Napoca, Cluj county)

Today we are talking about a special object from the museum's collection, a transparent glass decanter, produced in the Porumbacu glass workshop in the 1619th century. The artifact is a good pretext for a discussion about the history of glass, and Dr. Ana Maria Gruia tells us about the origins of the technology, but also about the famous Murano glass, produced in Venice since the XNUMXth century. Dr. Andrea Demjén tells us about the Prumbacu glass workshop, whose activity is documented in the first half of the XNUMXth century, in the Făgăraș County. In XNUMX, Venetian craftsmen who knew how to produce high-quality glass were brought there, and thus we learn more about the reasons why the object kept at the museum has an important historical value for Transylvania.