#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

“About the Polish language in Chișinău”

September 26 – October 26, 2023

In many countries, the European Day of Languages is celebrated on each September 26 since 2001 on the initiative of the Council of Europe. Thanks to the events organized on this occasion, Europeans discover different languages and cultures. Cześć, gąszcz, czyżyk, źdźbło, mitrężycyt, dżdżysto, gżegżółka, chrząszcz - discover the beauty of the Polish language in the Romanian version of the exhibition prepared by the Polish Institute in Bucharest.

We invite you on a journey through an unusual alphabet, listening to the hissing and rustling sounds of the Polish language. Our guides will be associations, dots, dashes and tails, which will help you remember the most interesting things about the Polish language.

The exhibition about the Polish language is presented in the context of the approaching academic year, during which we hope to be able to resume language courses as well. It also accompanies the celebration of the European Day of Languages.

The first source attesting to the Polish language is a papal document from the early 12th century. It mentions the oldest Polish names and surnames. The first longer text was written about 200 years later. In the 15th century there were already poems, prose and documents in Polish.

The exhibition dedicated to the Polish language presents a brief history of the language, the main pronunciation rules, and numerous peculiarities. The viewer finds out, among other things, what is the oldest sentence written in Polish, what "strange" letters are in the Polish alphabet, as well as onomatopoeic expressions that sound funny and literally whistle, squeak and creak on the exhibition panels.

The exhibition not only allows us to discover more about the Polish language, but also encourages us to learn this interesting language that is spoken by more than 40 million people around the world.

The exhibition can be seen from September 26 to October 26, 2023 on the fence of the National Museum of History of Moldova.