#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

"Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN – 100 years since his birth"

13 April – 24 May 2023

The exhibition is dedicated to the illustrious archaeologist Emanuil Rikman, former scientific researcher at the Academy of Sciences of the Moldovan SSR (1952-1968) and professor of archeology at the State Pedagogical University "Ion Creangă" (1955-1958) and the Moldova State University (1958, 1961-1966).

Emanuil Rikman is one of the fathers of ancient archeology in the Republic of Moldova. He carried out extensive research on the archeology of the Roman era, promoted investigations on the Romanization of the Geto-Dacians, carried out large-scale studies at sites from the ancient period and the Middle Ages, including at the sites of Budești, Bălțata, Sobari, Comrat, Costești, etc.

He promoted studies on traditional Romanian culture in Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, conducted ethnographic field research in Northern Moldova. He has published more than 110 studies of archeology and ethnography. He contributed to the formation of the archaeological school in the MSSR.

Emanuil Rikman was born on January 10, 1923 in Berdichev, Reg. Zhitomir, Ukraine, died in 1987, being buried in Moscow.

The exhibition "Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN - 100 years since his birth" aims to commemorate and pay tribute to the scientist Emanuil Rikman by exposing to the general public some documentary materials related to the fruitful activity of the late researcher and pedagogue.

The exhibition includes 2 types of exhibits: documentary materials related to the personality of Emanuil Rikman and various archaeological pieces discovered by Emanuil Rikman, currently kept in the patrimonial funds of NMHM.

The documentary materials are copies extracted from Emanuil Rikman's personal archive, archaeological reports from the NMHM archive, the scholar's monographs, photographic images from archaeological sites and Emanuil Rikman's ethnographic expeditions on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. Part of the documentary materials for the organization of the exhibition were provided by the Faculty of History of the MSU and the National Archaeological Agency.

The archaeological vestiges on display represent original pieces from Emanuil Rikman's excavations from the sites of Budești, Comrat, Bălțata, Caracușenii Noi, etc. The exhibition presents archaeological pieces made of ceramics, bronze, copper, silver, glass, bone, etc., dated in the II-IV centuries, including pots-jars, cups, jugs, bowls, Roman amphorae, brooches, beads, pendants, objects toilet etc.

The exhibition "Archaeologist Emanuil RIKMAN - 100 years since his birth" can be visited during 13 April - 24 May 2023, in the upstairs hall of the National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 str., 121A.