#Exhibit of the Month

Around thirty icons from the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova feature Saint Nicholas the Hierarch and Miracle Worker. While most represent the later iconographic tradition, a few early images stand out as rare examples due to their composition.
In the icon "Saint Nicholas with Scenes from His Life", the hierarch is depicted bust-length, blessing the Gospel. He is framed by two round medallions showing Christ and the Mother of God, who hand him the Gospel and the omophorion. Saint Nicholas, earlier than other saints, was portrayed with scenes from his hagiographic cycle. The first images of his life date back to the 11th century, represented on a folding icon from the Monastery of Saint Catherine at Sinai.

The museum icon dates from the early 19th century, preserving the traditional chest format typical of classical icons. Twelve panels illustrate episodes from the saint's life, arranged from left to right: four on the upper register, four on the lower, and two on each side, as follows: Birth of Saint Nicholas (1), Baptism of Saint Nicholas (2), Miracle of Healing the Crippled Woman (3), Apprenticeship of Young Nicholas (4), Ordination as Deacon (5), Ordination as Bishop (6) Vision of Constantine (7), Saint Nicholas Saves Three Voivodes from Execution (8), Miracle of Rescue from Drowning (9), Miracle of Saving Basil from the Arabs (10), Dormition of Saint Nicholas (11), Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas to Bari (12).

Saint Nicholas the Hierarch is commemorated by the Orthodox Church twice a year: on December 6/19, the day of his birth, and on May 9/22, the day his relics were transferred from Myra to Bari (1087). Among all saints of the Christian world, the image of Saint Nicholas is one of the most popular, easily recognizable even to those unfamiliar with iconography.

He was born in the Roman Empire, at Patara in the province of Lycia, between 260-280, though early sources omit the exact date. Coming from a wealthy family, he rejected fame and luxury. From an early age he devoted himself to prayer and the study of Holy Scripture, while also mastering other disciplines. He avoided noisy gatherings and idle talk, attended church regularly, and pursued a life of chastity. Later he dedicated himself to pastoral ministry, defending the Christian faith with perseverance and firmly opposing heresies.
Through his care for people and the benefactions he performed everywhere, he became highly venerated not only in Myra but also in the surrounding regions. The grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart was revealed through miracles performed both during his life and after his death, earning him the enduring title of "Miracle Worker." Saint Nicholas passed away in the 330s (circa 334-337), and his remains were placed in a sumptuous marble tomb in the episcopal cathedral where he had served for many years. This soon became an important center of pilgrimage.
Holy Tradition has preserved with accuracy the features of his portrait, and his appearance in icons is marked by a distinct individuality. Ecclesiastical art has produced numerous iconographic representations, ranging from bust images to full-length depictions. The diversity of these representations suggests that the final iconography of Saint Nicholas was not yet established, taking shape only in the 10th-11th centuries. It is said that an authentic icon from the basilica in Myra, executed during the saint's lifetime and mentioned in written sources as early as the 11th century, played a significant role in his veneration.
Icons depicting the hagiographic cycle of Saint Nicholas spread widely in both Byzantine and post-Byzantine art, confirming the importance and popularity of his cult.

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Exhibitions

“Black Pentecost. Deportation in Bărăgan”

May 29 - June 30, 2019

Wednesday, 29 May 2019, at 14.00, the National Museum of History of Moldova invites you to the photo and documentary exhibition "Black Pentecost. Deportation in Bărăgan" organized by the International Center for Studies into Communism of the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance, Sighet, Romania.

The exhibition brings together photographic images and documents reflecting the drama of the over 12,780 families deported in Bărăgan in June 1951 by the communist regime in Romania.

The deportations from Banat and Mehedinţi, from the summer of 1951, are one (and the cruelest) among the many social purification projects initiated by the communist regime of the Gheorghiu-Dej period, in full Soviet domination. Following a plan prepared for three months with a diabolical accuracy, on the night of 18th to 19th June, over 44000 persons were taken out of their homes without any prior notice, starting with women and men capable of work and continuing with their families, composed of elders up to 85 years old and children of all ages (one of them, born only two days before). After a two-week-long difficult road closed up in wagons meant for the transportation of animals, the deportees were laid in several railway stations in Bărăgan, from where trucks took them in 18 different points of the steppe desert. Abandoned under the open sky of a hot summer, they had to build their huts under the ground, as in the primitive commune. In the following years, they built better houses and started cultivating virgin lands. This is how they managed to assure food for them and for the animals in the yard, overcoming poverty and isolation, surviving as Robinson Crusoe of the 20th century.

The question raised by the exhibition "Black Pentecost: Deportation in Bărăgan" is: what was the purpose of uprooting of such a large number of people? Was the Communist regime worrying about diligence, earnestness, anti-communism, hope for the Americans to free them, penetrating the country through Tito's Yugoslavia? Otherwise, the huge forces employed into this project cannot be explained: over 10,000 armed soldiers (securitists, militians, military school students, border guards and firemen) coordinated and supervised by 2500 party activists.

Five years later, in 1956, the deportees returned to their homes, but many found them occupied by the regime's profiteers, and they were forced to take their lives for a second time. 1600 of them (of which 175 children) had died in detention and soon their bones were shown with the tractor, along with the villages made one with the ground.

Some villages, however, have been turned into "binding residence" centers for the thousands of political prisoners released from prison at the expiration of the sentence, but considered recalcitrants and "irreducibles". Between 1955 and 1964, at Rubla, Lăteşti, Măzăreni, Dropia, Zagna, Fundulea have lived many personalities of political and cultural life, including Corneliu Coposu, Ion C. Brătianu, Dan M. Brătianu, Constantin C. Giurescu, Ion Diaconescu, Camil Demetrescu, Hans Bergel, students Paul Goma, Dan Mugur Rusiecki, Ion Varlam. Penalty supplements, ranging from 12 to 60 months, long-term cohabitation in a small perimeter allowed them to become friends, transform their new existence into a school of solidarity. The most inhuman detention in this period was that of seven children - aged between 1 and 12 - deported to Lăteşti together with their mother after their father, a reformed priest, had been sentenced to 22 years. Another Orthodox priest was sentenced to hard labor for life because he dared leave briefly the binding residence, where he was brought after nine years of detention. In summary, however, the disintegration of the civic spirit did not succeed either with the deportees nor with the binding residents, and the Communists had to postpone the total atomization of society until the ‘70s - ‘80s, when the new generations gave in to the prophylactic terror triggered by the new communist regime.

The "Black Pentecost: Deportation in Bărăgan" exhibition is made up of 28 panels which show in a chronological and thematic order the international situation of the 1950s (the breaking of Tito by the Stalinist Kominform), elaboration of the "dislocation" plan, drafting of "black lists" and implementation of the deportation, life in Bărăgan, house building, earning water and food, school, work, funerals, and finally "Binding Residence". Explanatory texts are complemented by hundreds of photos, maps and objects, all of which come from the database of the International Center for Studies into Communism. Personal testimonials are transcripts of records made by CISAC collaborators.

The exhibition was made first in 2011 at the 60th anniversary since the deportations of June 1951 and was part of the project "Memory of Deportations in Romania", supported by the program "Europe for Citizens. Active European remembrance" of the European Commission.

Exhibition team: Romulus Rusan with Ioana Boca, Virginia Ion, Andreea Cârstea, Angela Bilcea. Graphic design: arch. Octavian Carabela, MB Studio.