#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

"Enemies of the People"

2 – 30 April 2024

On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at 14:00, "Enemies of the people", an exhibition of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism and the Resistance in Romania, will open in Chisinau, at the National Museum of History of Moldova.

The event in Chisinau is organized by the Civic Academy Foundation - Memorial to the Victims of Communism and Resistance in partnership with the National Museum of History of Moldova, with the support of the Hans Seidel Foundation Romania and the Hans Seidel Foundation Moldova.

The exhibition will be opened at the National History Museum of Moldova, str. 31 August 1989, no. 121 A, between April 2-30.

Like any totalitarian regime, communism did not take into account the age, sex, health or cultural level of the people against whom it directed its repression. "Enemies of the people" were not only adults but also children, not only men but also women. Peasants and aristocrats, intellectuals and simple women, elderly women, teenagers or even little girls, pregnant women, lehuze and women with breast-feeding children experienced communist detention, being considered a potential danger to the regime. The reasons for their incarceration varied. Some were themselves considered dangerous to the social order of the communist state; others suffered imprisonment as mothers, wives or daughters of male prisoners.

"Enemies of the people" is an exhibition dedicated to Romanian women victims of communism. It brings before the public the portraits of 71 women who were detained during the communist period for political reasons and who were categorized by the communist regime as "enemies of the people" for the most varied reasons: because they had ties with the West, being accused of "high treason", because they had been part of the anti-communist resistance in the mountains or because they had opposed the confiscation of their land during the collectivization process, and some of them became victims simply because they were mothers, wives, daughters or the sisters of people considered dangerous by the regime.

In addition to the 71 female victims, in a section called "The Youngest Detainees" several cases of little girls who experienced political detention during the communist period, either because they were born in prison or because their mothers were pregnant, are presented at the time of arrest, either because they were detained together with their parents.

At the same time, with the help of fragments from the detention memorials or objects made in prisons, the exhibition also reproduces aspects of the prison regime, showing the ordeal these women went through.

The "Enemies of the People" exhibition is a project of the Civic Academy Foundation - Memorial to the Victims of Communism and Resistance, Romania. The curator of the exhibition is Virginia Ion, and the exhibition design was made by Zeppelin Design (coordinating architects Constantin Goagea and Cosmina Goagea).

The exhibition was made in 2021 and opened between October 2021 and October 2022 at the Sighet Memorial Exhibition Space in Bucharest, str. JL Calderon no. 66. In 2023, it toured Timișoara, the Revolution Memorial and the Carol I Museum in Brăila.

The exhibition "Enemies of the people" received the award of the "Architecture of interior design / exhibitions, stands and scenography" section awarded at the Annual Architecture gala organized by the Bucharest Branch of the Order of Architects, gala which took place on December 7, 2021 at the Romanian Athenaeum.

The Memorial to the Victims of Communism and Resistance was established in 1993 from the initiative of the writers Ana Blandiana and Romulus Rusan, being the first memorial in the world dedicated to the victims of communism. The general aim of the memorial is civic education through a good knowledge of Romania's and Eastern Europe's recent past. The legal entity established to realize and administer the Memorial is the Civic Academy Foundation.

The memorial has two components: the Memorial Museum, located in Sighetu Marmaţiei, and the International Center for Studies on Communism, located in Bucharest. The museum was created in the building of the former prison in Sighet, where between 1950-1955 the political, economic and religious elite of interwar Romania were imprisoned. It has 60 rooms, each cell of the former communist prison being transformed into an exhibition space. The main themes addressed are communist repression, the deconstruction of the rule of law and its replacement with a totalitarian system. The International Studies Center includes: the Department of Oral History, the Archive, the Research Department, the Department for Exhibitions and the Editorial Department (Academia Civică Foundation Publishing House).

In the 31 years of activity, the Memorial had hundreds of actions (touring exhibitions in the country and abroad, symposia, publications, educational activities, European projects, oral history recordings, book launches, etc.) through which it provided the general public with information to better understand what happened in Romania and in other Eastern European countries during the almost five decades of totalitarian communist regime, but also the complexity of the traumas of this historical period.

#Exhibit of the Month

Icon “Saint Nicholas with Scenes from His Life”

"Enemies of the People"

2 – 30 April 2024

#Exhibit of the Month