#Exhibit of the Month

It is a sports trophy obtained at an inter-school oina (a bat-and-ball game) competition in interwar Bessarabia. We don't know which schools participated in this competition, nor the venue, we only know that one of the winners received the second prize and that the event was held on May 13, 1934. In this way we learn about the existence of different sports competitions organized by schools, including the oina game. Oina is a beautiful and complex sports game that promotes the development of body and spirit, courage and the desire for self-improvement. Oina is a treasure of the Romanian people, which must be sacredly kept and passed on to future generations.

The oină or hoina game is considered a Romanian national sports game having a history of at least six centuries. The oina game is practiced continuously, according to the chronicles and deeds of the time at least from the 14th century, being mentioned for the first time in 1364, during the reign of Vlaicu Vodă. The game requires complex sports qualities (good running speed, fast reflexes in self-defense movements against the balls, accuracy in throwing and hitting the ball with a bat or stick). Oina is a sport that identifies us to the same extent as trânta, our national wrestling. The game becomes attractive among young people in the villages, enters the school curriculum through physical education lessons. Through the Education Reform of 1898, as well as through other ministerial decisions, Education Minister Spiru Haret introduces the compulsory oina lessons in all schools, as well as the annual oina competitions.

On May 9, 1899, in Bucharest, the first national oina championship was organized, the teams being made up of high school students. The winner was the team of Nicolae Bălcescu High School from Brăila.

In 1912, the Federation of the Romanian Sports Society (Bucharest) was created, which consisted of 13 sports commissions including the oina commission.

After the Union of 1918, the Federation of the Romanian Sports Society was reorganized in 1923, including the other oina sports commissions of Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia.

In 1932, the Romanian Oina Federation was founded.

National Museum of History of Moldova

Exhibitions

„RVDR. Zaharia Cușnir”

2 March - 1 June 2020

The temporary exhibition "New encounter" is a retrospective of the transformation of time and people. The eyes that look at the visitor have the courage and sincerity to carry on the reality, "New encounter" has the purpuse to draw a parallel line between the visitor and the moments of the lives captured by Zaharia Cușnir's camera.

Zaharia Cușnir (1912-1993) was an amateur photographer who lived in Roșietici village, Florești district. He photographed the lives of people from the surrounding villages between 1955-1973, leaving behind a collection of about 4000 medium-sized negatives - 6x6 cm. In 2016, the negatives were discovered in the house where Zaharia lived.

After his death, in 1993, the house was left unoccupied, while the photographs were closed in a suitcase and stored in the loft. In the spring of 2016, a student discovered the negatives in the house which was already without doors and windows. For three years, the negatives were cleaned, indexed and scanned and now the collection that can be found online on www.zaharia.md and facebook.com/cusnirzaharia, or exhibited in the hall on the ground floor at the National Museum of History in Moldova between March 2 and 15, 2020.