#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.

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National Symposium „Integration of nobility of Bessarabia in socio-political, economic and cultural life of the Russian Empire"

October 5, 2012

On October 5, 2012 the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova in collaboration with Vyacheslav Cebotari's Academy of Arts Foundation SVERCHKARTINA from St. Petersburg organized the 2^nd National Symposium (with international participation) „Integration of nobility of Bessarabia in socio-political, economic and cultural life of the Russian Empire" dedicated to the memory of Alexandru Matei Cotruta (1827-1905).

The idea of organizing such a symposium belongs to the artist Vyacheslav Cebotari (born 1959 in the village of Mincenii de Jos, Rezina District - the motherland of Alexandru Cotruta), author of a series works of monumental sculpture highly appreciated in the Russian Federation (St. Petersburg). He is also the author of a portrait and commemorative medal in honor of the 180^th anniversary of the birth of a nobleman Alexandru Cotruta.

In the discussions there took part university professors, researchers, museum specialists, men of culture concerned with history, sociology, museology, etc. The event was attended by Prof. Dr. Vyacheslav Afanasev, born in the village of Mincenii de Jos, Rezina District, who, speaking about his countryman Alexandru Matei Cotruta, highlighted the efforts of the researches from National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova, who in recent investigations found the place of the church and the Cotruta family tomb destroyed by the Soviet authorities in 1960s.

The reports, mostly unpublished, include the results of studies in archives, museums, and libraries on two areas of research:

· Bessarabian nobility in the context of sociopolitical and cultural life of the Russian Empire (1812-1918)
· Alexandru Cotruta - outstanding sociopolitical and cultural figure of Bessarabia (the 2nd half of 19th - early 20th centuries).

Papers presented at the Symposium will be published in the collection of articles dedicated to the memory of Alexandru Cotruta.