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The music is recorded on a cylinder with pins. The interior is divided into three compartments: the first contains the crank and the mechanism that operates the cylinder with pins, the second - the cylinder with pins and vibrating lamellae, and the third - two levers for starting and stopping the melody. The cylinder holds seven melodies by W.A. Mozart, which are played through the vibration of steel teeth arranged in a comb, whose tips are adjacent to the cylinder. The lid of the box features floral marquetry on its outer surface. This cultural asset is classified under the "Tezaur" category.

The Story of Musical Boxes

Musical boxes originated in Switzerland at the end of the 18th century. In 1796, watchmaker Antoine Favre-Salomon invented a pocket watch with an incorporated musical mechanism, using the principle of tuned metal lamellae. The invention quickly spread, soon leading to the creation of musical boxes independent of watches.

Initially invented and built for the salon entertainment of the aristocracy, musical boxes quickly evolved, capturing the market and public interest with these entertainment machines. The musical box industry was predominantly centered in Switzerland. Geneva remains the cradle of the musical box, even though the art of crafting these musical wonders spread to other regions of Switzerland - such as Jura, Auberson, and Sainte Croix - and later to other countries, including France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Some of the most notable manufacturers of musical boxes include: Mermod Frères, Paillard, Reuge, Thorens, Cuendet, Junod, Nicole Frères, Ducommun-Girod, Brémond, and L'Epee.

The musical box operated on a relatively simple principle: a cylinder with pins (cylindrical pins) would, through rotation, actuate a metal "comb" tuned to specific musical notes, both being concealed from view in one of the box's compartments. By turning the cylinder - with the help of a spring mechanism (similar to that of watches) - the pins would strike the steel "teeth" of the comb, causing them to vibrate and produce different musical notes. A musical box could have a limited number of melodies "programmed" onto the cylinder - from 4 to 12.

Over time, the cylinders were replaced with interchangeable metal discs. Based on this operating principle, large musical boxes emerged in cafés and taverns, which could be activated by inserting a coin, allowing users to select their preferred disc.

Besides the ingenious mechanism, musical boxes also stood out for the artistry of their exterior decorations, featuring materials such as precious woods, mother-of-pearl, ivory, and metal.

The decline of musical boxes began with the invention of the phonograph (1877) and the gramophone (1887). Production continued for a while, but by the early 20th century, most renowned companies had abandoned the business and started manufacturing other mechanical musical instruments.

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Exhibitions

"Icon of Christ - living expression of the Gospel"

April 25 – August 18, 2024

The exhibition entitled "Icon of Christ - living expression of the Gospel" is dedicated to the collection of icons with a Christological theme from the heritage of the National Museum of History of Moldova. The exhibition aims to familiarize the visiting public with some of the ecclesiastical art objects from the museum's collection, many of these being exhibited for the first time.

As an essential part of life, icons embody the artistic preferences and worldviews of different segments of the population. The icons preserved in the museum collections represent the miniature model of the style and traditions of the local iconographic art. The exhibition includes significant cultural assets for their patrimonial, artistic, spiritual and memorialistic value.

About sixty icons from Bessarabia, Ukraine, Russia, Jerusalem and Greece are presented in the exhibition. The earliest icon dates from 1810, in its field the name of the author, the monk Evtaph, is also found, the latest comes from a monastery workshop in Greece, dating from the second half of the 20th century. Painted on wood and canvas, the icons represent various styles of iconographic art such as those of the Byzantine tradition and of the realist-academic manner, those that combine the baroque element, as well as those of naive expression. The exhibited icons represent the fruit of painters with special training and that of amateur painters, characteristics that evoke the iconographic expressions that shaped the Bessarabian icon in that period.

The distinctive element of the exhibition is the diversity of categories and styles of interpretation, of techniques and materials, of forms of realization - all this giving it authenticity and personality. Given the numerous presence of pieces of the same iconographic category, the criterion for displaying the icons is the typological one. The entire iconographic material has been systematized in five distinct compartments. The first thematic group is made up of the icons that evoke the "Evangelical Face of the Savior", a category that sums up the most iconographic types from the "Birth of the Lord" to the "Entombment". "The Face of Christ in Glory" includes the iconographic subjects - " The Transfiguration", the "Resurrection of the Lord" and the "Ascension of the Lord" - moments when the apostles are initiated into revelatory mysteries not yet known to them. The "unmade face of the Savior" is depicted in the icons "Mahram of King Abgar" and "Mahram of Veronica ", these representing the Achiropites", images on which, according to tradition, the face of the Savior miraculously appears.

The first representation is considered the "Byzantine" or Eastern face of God, printed on the handkerchief sent to King Abgar of Edessa, the second, also called the "Roman" or Western face, it reproduces the suffering face of the Lord on the face of Veronica, the woman who through the touch of the Saviour's garment healed the heavy afflictions. The "Good Shepherd" icons represent the "Symbolic Face of the Saviour", a face inspired by the Gospel, from the words and parables of the Saviour, rendered as deeply as it is sublime and pure in its spirituality. The iconographic types Jesus Christ "Vine", Jesus Christ "Pantocrator", Jesus Christ "Great Emperor" and Jesus Christ "High Priest" embody the "Liturgical Face of the Savior". The most numerous images in this compartment are those in which Jesus Christ is depicted in the posture of Pantocrator.Reproduced in about 40 icons, the most representative ones were selected for their artistic and spiritual messages.

Other liturgical objects from the museum's heritage were used as complementary material - pectoral crosses, candlesticks, chalices, censers, etc. The visiting public will have the opportunity to examine some enlarged details from the composition of the icons on display, placed separately, which may pleasantly surprise them.


 




Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
October 15 - November 15, 2024
 
October 17 – October 31, 2024
 
October 21 - November 8, 2024
 
October 16-30, 2024
 
August 21 – November 20, 2024
 
Over 2500 pieces made of precious metals with historic, artistic and symbolic value
  

Come to Museum! Discover the History!
  
Visit museum
Visit museum
Summer schedule: daily
10am – 6pm.

Winter schedule: daily
10am – 5pm.
Closed on Mondays.
Entrance fees:  adults - 10 MDL, pensioners, adults with moderate disabilities / disability of the 3rd degree, students - 5 MDL, school students - 2 MDL. Free access: enlisted men (...)

WiFi Free Wi-Fi Zone in the museum: In the courtyard of the National History Museum of Moldova there is Wi-Fi Internet access for visitors.


#Exhibit of the Month

The music is recorded on a cylinder with pins. The interior is divided into three compartments: the first contains the crank and the mechanism that operates the cylinder with pins, the second - the cylinder with pins and vibrating lamellae, and the third - two levers for starting and stopping the melody...

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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.
©2006-2024 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



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.
©2006-2024 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

menu
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.
©2006-2024 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC