#Exhibit of the Month

One of the great technical achievements that revolutionized the idea of time and space, opening a new era in the history of communication, is telegraphy. It is based on the transmission of electrical signals through a cable over long distances, allowing people to communicate instantly. The telegraph spread very quickly and a network of wires stretched around the world.

In 1837, the American painter and physicist Samuel Morse invented the first electromagnetic device for telegraphy, patented in 1840. To send messages by wire, Morse developed in 1838 a simple code of dots and dashes, which represented the letters of the alphabet, known as "Morse code ".

Both Morse code and the telegraph machine were improved over time, with the telegraph becoming the most widespread system of communication and information transmission for more than a century, until the advent of the Internet. The telegraph system consisted of a series of stations repeaters along the transmission line route. Each station had an operator who received and transmitted messages by telegraph. The Morse machine transmitted about 25 words per minute, which were recorded in code on a paper tape. The operator in charge of transmitting the message would decode it and write it on paper using a special typewriter.

In Bessarabia, the telegraph entered in 1860: on April 8, the Bender telegraph station began its activity, and on April 24, the one in Chisinau, following the construction of the first Odesa-Chisinau-Leova telegraph line. Currently, telegraph services have been discontinued. The only ones who still use coded communication are radio amateurs.

The Morse telegraph machine shown comes from the Osinoostrovsky electrotechnical plant, Soviet Union, and dates back to 1934. The exhibit was restored by Mihail Culașco.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“Among posters and musical instruments”

June 27, 2019 - November 23, 2020

The exhibition Among posters and musical instruments is the result of the research and valorization of the collection of posters (about a thousand pieces) and musical instruments from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Through its approximately 80 posters and 50 musical instruments, selected according to a chronological, typological and diversity criteria, the museum institution fulfills its obvious function to preserve in time and valorize the cultural heritage which includes posters and musical instruments. Established over several decades during the 20th century from donations and acquisitions, the poster collection is a short chronicle of Moldovan musical events from the East of Prut between 1900-2010. It is a pioneering exhibition, the collection of musical posters being displayed for the first time, and aims to familiarize the public with the evolution of the musical poster as advertising support of documentary and artistic value, but also as a work of art. The diversity of the collection of musical instruments, some with particular memorial value, allows us to follow and fill in the creative biography of artists, but also the existence of a musical piece in time.

The evolution of the musical poster both chronologically and as composition, form and content was structured into four categories: the musical poster from the Tsarist period (1812-1918), the interwar period (1918-1944), the Soviet period (1944-1991) and the musical poster from the period of independence of the Republic of Moldova. The oldest music program poster in the collections of the museum dates back to the 19th century and it is an announcement of the concert of the baritone V. Anenkov at the Nobility Club in Chişinău on February 6, 1900. The musical poster of the interwar period, modest as number, is valuable through generous information, where we can identify musical events, valuable interpreters, and places where musical performances were given. The Soviet-era musical poster was different from the previous ones in color, but also in text, as they also had an ideological role. In the early 90ies of the 20th century, the poster is varied in shape, chromatics, rich in images (with pictures of performing artists), but modest as informative text.

The most valuable category of musical posters is those of classical music (symphonic, choral, instrumental, vocal) represented by the most famous orchestras of the time: Symphonic Orchestra of the State Philharmonic, National Symphonic Orchestra of „Teleradio Moldova" Company, National Chamber Orchestra, Academic Chapel „Doina", etc. A special message is offered by the posters of the popular folk music orchestras, which contributed to preserving and promoting the folk music: „Mugurel", „Fluieraş", „Folclor", „Lăutarii", the ethnofolkloric group „Tălăncuţa" etc. The collection includes posters of music groups and interpreters of popular music „Noroc", „Orizont", „Plai", „Legenda", „Colinda" etc., as well as posters of various festivals, contests and tours. In the musical atmosphere of the exhibition there is a beautiful collection of musical instruments, some of them of memorial value: the violin of the famous Bessarabian Gheorghe Heraru (1853-1920) and the violin of the master Sergei Lunchevici (1934-1995). The elegance of the music is also transmitted by the pieces of clothing that belonged to some personalities who left an important page in the history of the musical culture of the Republic of Moldova.