#Exhibit of the Month

The main parts of the camera include the body, bellows, lens, and viewfinder system. The body consists of two lacquered walnut wood frames, joined by a folding black textile bellows that allows the necessary extension for focusing. On the front panel is the Agfa anastigmat lens, mounted in a Compur-type shutter produced by F. Deckel in Munich. It features a foldable "brilliant" viewfinder for both portrait and landscape orientation. It uses glass photographic plates coated with a photographic emulsion, mounted in walnut wood holders, with a frame size of 9x12 cm.
The walnut wood model, considered the flagship "Agfa Isolar Luxus," was designed by the A.H. Rietzschel factory in Munich, acquired by AGFA in 1925, which continued producing this type of camera under its own name until the late 1920s.
The piece was restored by Mihail Culașco, Restoration Department of NMHM.
Brief History of the Camera
The history of the camera spans 200 years, evolving from the camera obscura to today's digital devices. Key milestones include: the first permanent photograph in 1826 by French physicist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, using a wooden box and a plate coated with bitumen of Judea; the invention of the first photographic process - daguerreotype - in 1839 by Frenchman Louis Daguerre, marking the official birth of photography; the invention of calotype, based on the negative/positive principle, by British physicist and chemist Fox Talbot; the invention of wet collodion plates by Englishman Frederick Scott Archer and dry glass plates by Richard Leach Maddox and John Huds Bennet; the introduction of flexible roll film and the launch of the first Kodak camera by American inventor George Eastman; the release of the first 35 mm film camera by German company "Leica"; the launch of the first instant camera "Polaroid," invented by American Edwin Land. Finally, starting in 1975, this path led to the digital photography revolution. Each successive step made cameras smaller and faster, significantly improving image quality.
The first photographic studio in Chișinău was opened in 1854 by Eduard Glewski, and before World War I, there were already about 100 photography studios in Bessarabia.
The collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova includes over 30 cameras, made in Austria, Germany, France, USSR, Japan, and China, dating from the late 19th century to the 2000s. Among them are folding bellows cameras, BOX-type cameras, single-lens reflex (SLR) and twin-lens reflex (TLR) cameras, as well as digital (DSLR) cameras.

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Exhibitions

„Polish Scouting and Guiding Association in the International Scouts' Family"

February 1-18, 2018

The National Museum of History of Moldova and the Polish Institute of Bucharest opened on February 1st, 2018 the exhibition „Polish Scouting and Guiding Association in the International Scouts' Family".

The exhibition consists of 30 stands made by the Museum of Scouting ZHP in Warsaw at the initiative of the Polish Institute in Bucharest. It is part of a series of cultural events marking in 2018 the 100th anniversary of the National Revival of Poland.

The exhibition „Polish Scouting and Guiding Association in the International Scouts' Family" introduces to the Moldovan public the traditions of the Polish scouting, its beginnings and the founding personalities of the organization.

The authors of the exhibition focused on the participation of the scouts at important events for Poland's history and independence, on the relationship between Polish scouts and scouts in other countries. The exhibition displays heroic stories, friendships made during jamborees organized in different countries, the continued desire for the recovery of freedom and peace, the recognition of independent Poland at international level, the care for tradition, as well as, or perhaps first of all, the play and the good will that accompany scouting activities and educational importance of this movement.

Among other things, the exhibition teaches us about the influence of scouting education on many generations of Polish young people, based on values such as patriotism, friendship, service to others, faith, hard work, fairness, freedom and peace.

The exhibition can be visited at the National Museum of History of Moldova between February 1 and 18, 2018.