# The pedestal vessel with columns from Izvoare

> Stop 3, Cucuteni Eneolithic Art Museum 'Gheorghe Dumitroaia'

In front of you is one of the museum's best-known pieces: the pedestal vessel with columns from Izvoare. If you have noticed the logo of the Neamț National Museum Complex, you have already seen this vessel, because it became the institution's emblem.

- Where: Room 2: the painted vessels
- Period: Cucuteni A (c. 4600–4050 BC)
- Material: Painted pottery
- Audio recording (1:12): https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/media/neamt/audio/muzeul-arta-eneolitica-cucuteni/en/cuc-03.mp3
- Stop page: https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/ghid/cucuteni-vasul-cu-suport-si-colonete?lang=en
- On the indoor map: https://museu-cucuteni.neamt.tesseramo.com/harta-interioara?stop=cucuteni-vasul-cu-suport-si-colonete&lang=en

## Narration

In front of you is one of the museum's best-known pieces: the pedestal vessel with columns from Izvoare. If you have noticed the logo of the Neamț National Museum Complex, you have already seen this vessel, because it became the institution's emblem. The site at Izvoare, in Neamț County, was excavated by the archaeologist Radu Vulpe. Look at how it is built: a bowl set on top of a stand, joined to it by small columns. Cucuteni potters had no wheel; everything was shaped by hand, yet the result has the balance of a piece of architecture. Then look at the decoration: spirals rolling out of one another, painted before firing, with no beginning and no end. This vessel form is found only in the Cucuteni civilisation and in no other prehistoric European culture. It was probably not a kitchen pot but an object with a ceremonial role. Remember that you are looking at it across more than six millennia from the hands that shaped it.