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.
Pages from the history of hotels in Bessarabia. Deltiologic research (2nd half of 19th - early 20th centuries)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
The present article is the result of a research of the museum collection of illustrated postcards representing the images of old Chișinău hotels in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It aims to reflect some aspects of hotel life of those times, and also a particular architectural appearance, which, unfortunately, we can admire now only in photographs.
Hotels have been and remain the face of the city. They also reflect the material achievements of urban civilization in Chișinău of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, especially after the installation of telegraph (1860) and construction of the railway line (1870s). This has contributed to the development of trade relations between Bessarabia and Russia, Bessarabia and Europe. Chișinău began to develop as the capital: there have been paved the streets, build public and administrative buildings, opened new factories and plants from abroad. So it is no accident that the owner of the first modern hotel was a Swiss Charles Thomas Selouidenis who in 1874 had rented the building at the intersection of Aleksandrovskaya and Seminarskaya streets (today – the corner of Stephen the Great Blvd and G. Banulescu-Bodoni St.). There was opened the Swiss Hotel, which existed for a long time, even after a change of ownership.
At the beginning of the 20th century the number of hotels in Chisinau has increased substantially, enriching the “geography” of names: Paris, London, Bristol, Grand Hotel, National Hotel, Petersburg, France, etc. Most of them were located in the upper part of the city, near the banking, administrative, legal institutions. Advertisements in the press at the time allow us to see the development of hotel services and a high level of comfort: bright and spacious rooms with beautiful interiors, windows and balconies onto the street, telegraph and electricity, restaurants and cafes with gourmet meals and drinks for guests, stables and coach-houses, etc.
On May 1, 1914 in Chisinau there was opened the most luxurious hotel of the city – the Palace Hotel, owned by a millionaire N. Barbalat. It had 120 rooms and was located in a four-storey building with a restaurant, cafe, elevator, telephone and telegraph. The hotel provided new services in the hotel industry – table setting in the rooms and booking of theater and train tickets.
Time, full of destructive events, and human indifference wiped out these architectural jewels, with the exception of the Swiss and Palace Hotels, which are partially preserved, having lost some features of the exterior.
List of illustrations: 1. Advertisement of the Alexandr Wolkenberg’s shop of stationery. 2. Exterior view of the Swiss Hotel, early 20th century. 3. Exterior view of the London Hotel, early 20th century. 4. Exterior view of the Palace Hotel, early 20th century. 5. Advertisement of the Palace Hotel. 6. Exterior view of the Bristol Hotel (Shumsky’s House), early 20th century.
Ana Grițco
Constantin F. Cazimir’s activity within the Bessarabian zemstva
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Ana Grițco
Requisition as a way of sovietisation of Bessarabian peasants
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2007
Ana Grițco
A drugstore of old times Chișinău (end of 19th – beginning of 20th centuries)
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IV [XIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Ana Grițco
Scientific activity in Bessarabia as reflected in works of some figures (1812-1918). From the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XVII [XXXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Ana Grițco
Building of the Hârbovăț Community of Nurses in Chișinău (late 19th - early 20th centuries): the image and history
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VI [XXI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
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 National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
