#Exhibit of the Month

Manufactured in 1902 by AG vorm Siedel & Nauman in Dresden, Germany.

Dimensions: Length - 38 cm, Width - 35 cm, Height - 20 cm. Weight - 16 kg. It entered the museum collection in 1984, transferred from the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History.

The typewriter features a standard carriage mounted on ball bearings and rollers, along with a keyboard equipped with 42 keys. These contain two complete sets of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, punctuation marks, numbers, and mathematical symbols, enabling the typing of 126 characters. Beneath the metal casing, the type bars are arranged in a fan-like pattern, holding embossed characters and ink ribbon rollers. When the keys are pressed, the type bars strike the inked ribbon, imprinting characters onto the paper tensioned in the machine's roller system.

The side panels are elegantly decorated with refined cast-iron elements in the Art Nouveau style, displaying the brand name - "Ideal." The Polyglott model, featuring a bilingual keyboard patented in the United Kingdom by Max Klaczko from Riga, Latvia, was produced between 1902 and 1913, marking the first typewriter capable of writing in two languages. The "Ideal Polyglott" typewriter was actively sold in the Russian Empire and gained significant popularity in Poland, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The typewriter - a mechanical device used for printing text directly onto paper - ranks among the most important inventions of the modern era, as it revolutionized communication. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, it became an indispensable tool, widely used by writers, in offices, for business correspondence, and in private homes. The peak of typewriter sales occurred in the 1950s when the average annual sales in the United States reached 12 million units. In November 2012, the British Brother factory produced what it claimed to be the last typewriter, which was donated to the Science Museum in London.
The advent of computers, word processing software, printers, and the decreasing cost of these technologies led to the typewriter's disappearance from the mainstream market, turning it into a museum exhibit.
June 23 marks Typewriter Day, commemorating the date when American journalist and inventor Christopher Latham Sholes patented his typewriter. This day celebrates the simple yet revolutionary device that has become history, as well as the remarkable literary achievements it has enabled since 1868.

Virtual Tour

European Night of Museums 2014

This year, two of the most important events in the worldwide community of museums - International Museum Day and Night of Museums were celebrated by the National Museum of History of Moldova on May 17. On this occasion, the museum prepared for visitors many interesting and varied activities, which started at 11:00 and ended at 02:00.

The theme for these extraordinary celebrations was "Museum collections make connections...between visitors, generations and cultures of the world.

Poster International Day of Museums 2014

The International Museum Day program started at 11:00 and ended at 18:00; it included a series of activities in the museum's rooms and in the courtyard. Among them:

In the museum's rooms:

Opening of the International Museum Day

Presentation of the museum's publications:

- Album "National Museum of History of Moldova (1983-2013)"

- A. Grițco. "Karl Schmidt"

- "Marketing in Contemporary Museum - Achievements and Problems"

Opening of the temporary exhibition "Courage and Faith" (Military decorations from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova)
Concert of classical music "The Realm of Music", with the participation of children from the Center for Aesthetic Education "Lăstărel"
Workshops for children and their parents: "Historical artifact through the eyes of a child", "Little ceramists", "History and art of writing"

In the courtyard:

Brass Band Concert of the Center for Aesthetic Education "Lăstărel"
Exhibition of retro cars
"A day in the life of a prehistoric community" - interactive activities in the reconstructed Cucutenian dwelling
Contemporary Ceramic Workshop led by ceramist I. Prividiuc
Children's toy fair. Children came to the museum with their toys, which they donated to an orphanage.
Games and contests for children, music and dance show with participation of artistic groups from the Center for Aesthetic Education "Lăstărel"
Workshops of medieval weapon skills and of electronic shooting organized by the Academy „Stefan cel Mare" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Presentation of the album "Moldova. Military tradition and culture" edited by the Academy „Stefan cel Mare" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

The activities dedicated to the International Museum Day were attended by 2371 people.

The European Night of Museums was celebrated from 18:00 to 2:00.

The program included:

In the museum's rooms:

Visiting the permanent and temporary exhibitions, entertainment with characters in costumes of different times
A musical journey through time:

- French music concert featuring winners of the National Francophone Song Festival 2014

- Musical interludes performed by pianist Vera Stoyanov, winner of International Music Competitions, and violinist Lia Rusu, winner of the National Music Competitions

- Chamber music performed by students of the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts

Thematic guided tours in the temporary exhibition "History of a Coin"
French films screenings, in the museum's Film Library "Clio": Ernest et Célestine by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar and Benjamin Renner; Le Prénom by Alexandre de La Patellière and Mathieu Delaporte; Populaire by Régis Roinsard; Le gamin au vélo by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
Interactive exhibition "My Country, My Family". The Night of Museums participants were invited to come with a family photo (older than 30 years), which will be exhibited in the hall of the museum within the exhibition reconstructing the history of the local community during a century. The exhibition included pictures owned by the Bejan, Chiciuc, Foca, Guja, Oprea, Sîrbu, and Semenciuc families.
Workshop "Newfound Stories. Hairstyle in History". Students of the Chisinau Professional School no. 1 presented the history of hairstyles (in ancient times, the Middle Ages, the modern time and the interwar period) and did all interested hairstyles from different periods of time.
"Behind the Exhibitions of the National Museum of History of Moldova" - interactive demonstrations and discussions. Museum restorers invited visitors to know how to identify, preserve and restore archaeological pottery, old books, clocks and icons.
Workshops for children and their parents: Origami Workshop "The Magic of Cucuteni Pottery" and the Glass Painting Workshop
Medieval armor stand and Photo Studio "Retro-Museum", in which the visitors could try on knights' armor and / or to make a picture in a specially designed vintage environment.
Screening Kaleidoscope of the Night 2014

In the courtyard:

"A night in the life of a prehistoric community" - interactive activities in the reconstructed Cucutenian dwelling
Interactive Workshops on weapon skills, archery, and javelin organized by the Academy „Stefan cel Mare" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Performance "Military Traditions. Between Past, Present and Future" staged by students of the Academy "Stefan cel Mare" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They offered a great costume show presenting mastery of weapons from different times.
Night guided tour "Architectural landmarks of Chisinau downtown". By means of two buses of the Urban Bus Fleet there were organized 14 guided tours to Stefan cel Mare Street, from one end to another, to discover some interesting details about the emblematic buildings of Chisinau.
Concert with Konstantin Pawliuk and the group "Clipele Moldovei"
Battles of knights and fire juggling staged by the Historical Club "Ensifer"
Concert of the band "No Stresss"

The celebration of the European Night of Museums at the National Museum of History of Moldova was attended by 15 845 people.