In Pictures: Exhibition of Moldovan national costumes in Limerick museum

A NEW EXHIBITION featuring the traditional dress of the eastern European nation of Moldova has opened in Limerick city.

For the next week, the Hunt Museum will be home to a show of national costumes from the country, which is located between Ukraine and Romania.

The Moldovan ambassador to Ireland Larisa Miculet joined local Labour councillor Elena Secas, who hails from the south of the country, to open the display.

It features traditional blouses festooned with ‘altita’ – or embroidery on the shoulders.

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Indeed, the art of shirt embroidery was declared an element of cultural identity in Moldova and included in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage lists in December last.

Among the 14 other national costumes on display in the Hunt Museum are the high-waisted shirts, which have recently been made again after a gap of hundreds of years with a community of enthusiastic seamstresses.

Prior to their display in Limerick, the pieces were showcased in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

See more pictures from the exhibition in our gallery.