
Archaeology
The Archaeology Department has a remarkable number of objects divided into several collections.
In the old archaeology collection there are 60 antique Egyptian pieces (one of the important collections in Romania), also, a valuable collection of antique Greek painted vases.
The most important part of the archaeological heritage comes from the archaeological sites and also from random discoveries in the past 50 years. The Neolithic period and the Bronze Age are very well represented inside and outside the country. One of the most important cultures in the Bronze Age on the Romanian territory is the so called Otomani culture – represented by pieces of bronze metallurgy, wonderful vases and the famous megaron-temple from Salacea, one of the few sanctuaries of the Bronze Age, discovered on the Romanian territory. The Classical Dacian age is well presented through objects coming from fortified settlements (Tăşad, Sacalasău, Oradea) or opened ones (Oradea, Biharea, Cociuba Mare), with findings that illustrate silver working, agriculture, iron working and household occupations. A really special object is the monoxyle discovered on the White Cris River bank. We hold as well several beautiful late roman silver vases from the migrations period, discovered at Tauteu.
The archaeological collection holds a rich medieval lapdarium, mainly coming from the Fortress of Oradea as well as a collection containing tiles, jewellery, iron tools, bronze objects, ceramic, weapons etc. toate acestea conferind acestei din urmă colecţii calitatea de reper internaţional.
The numismatic collection of the museum reflects, through the monetary treasures and isolated discoveries, the circulation of coins in Crișana, especially in the area of the present Bihor county.
The treasures discovered in Chilindia, Feniș, Almaș (Arad county) and Sânnicolau Român (Bihor county), consisting of coins attributed to the Celtic and Dacian workshops, belong to the ancient period. Some treasures containing drachmas of the Adriatic cities (Dyrrhachium and Apollonia) and Roman republican denarii, of which the important discoveries from Dieci (Arad county), Tadad, Sacalasau Nou or Drăgești (Bihor county) are added to these monetary lots.
For the medieval period, next to the discoveries made during the archaeological excavations in the fortress of Oradea and the cemeteries of Biharia, Sânnicolau de Beiuș or Cefa – La Pădure, we note the importance of the treasure from Sălacea consisting of coins of the Friesach type, struck in the 12th and 13th century, found in Batăr (Bihor county) and Oradea – D. Cantemir, containing denarii and parvi issued by the King of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg.
The vast majority of the treasures kept in the collection belong to the 16th and 17th centuries. The most important ones are from Oradea I (tpq 1595), Săldăbagiu de Munte (1598), Crestur (1600), Marghita III (1602), Ghighișeni (1661) , Chisereu (1678), Chiscau (1692) etc.
From the miscellaneous objects collection we can mention the tools from medieval jewellery works, kept in the history department’s thesaurus, the medieval keys collection from the 14-16th century, Turkish vases from the 17th century, objects belonging to different crafts from the 17 – 18th century, medieval ceramic, a rich and diverse collection from the 11th – 19th century.