#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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Events Archive

The opening of the exhibition "Mom, I don't want war!!!"

September 30, 2022

On September 30, at 12:00, in front of the National Museum of History of Moldova, was opened the exhibition "Mami, I don't want war!!!", organized in partnership with the Polish Institute from Bucharest, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Moldova and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition features historical drawings by Polish children from 1946, which record their experience during World War II and the German occupation of 1939-1945, as well as contemporary drawings by Ukrainian children about the ongoing war in Ukraine and which can be found on the Mom I see war portal.

The similarity between the historical drawings and those of today is amazing. Children draw tanks, airplanes from which bombs are dropped, fires and explosions. Draw wounded and dead, ruined houses, graves. They draw themselves and their families, draw evacuation and escape. They also draw their hopes and dreams for the future. The multitude of emotions transposed in the drawings: from fear and despair to hope and faith in victory, confirms one thing - children should not suffer because of war, they deserve to be happy and loved.

During the opening, Eugen Sava, the General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, stated that the children's drawings are wonderful but also tragic at the same time and convey a profound message.

Tomasz Michał Kobzdej, the ambassador of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Moldova, noted that "In 1946 children show soldiers in cartoons as people who have been driven mad by nazi or communist ideologies, as monsters. There is no doubt that the wars of adults bring suffering to children. Protecting children who are victims of war is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of Poland".

The Ambassador of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova, Marko Shevcenko, stated that "The exhibition is both impressive and paradoxical at the same time. Despite the fact that the distance at which these drawings were made is more than 80 years - the theme is the same. Only the military symbols are different. Evil remains evil regardless of the messages promoted and it is important that everyone unites and fights back against this evil."

The exhibition "Mom, I don't want war!!!" can be seen on the fence of the National Museum of History of Moldova (31 August 1989 street, no. 121 A) between September 30 and October 31, 2022.