#Exhibit of the Month

The history of this icon traces back to the 10th century at the Protaton Monastery on Mount Athos. In one of the cells named "The Dormition of the Mother of God," an elderly hieromonk lived with his disciple. They preserved a superb depiction of the Virgin Mary. This old icon became renowned through the revelation of the prayer "It Is Truly Meet."
Between the years 980-982, on a Saturday evening before an all-night vigil, the elder monk left for the nearby church, instructing his disciple to continue the religious routine in the cell. Being obedient, the disciple followed the instructions. When he reached the 9th Ode of the Canons, "More Honorable Than the Cherubim...," he suddenly heard someone beginning to chant alongside him: "It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos..." It was a mysterious pilgrim monk who had appeared unexpectedly and joined in the prayers. At that moment, the icon began to radiate light, as if it were broad daylight. Astonished by the events, the disciple asked the mysterious monk to write down the verses. The monk wrote them on a tile with his finger as if it were soft wax and said, "From now on, this is how you Orthodox Christians should chant," and, saying this, he vanished. Left alone, the disciple realized he had witnessed a great miracle. Enlightened, he understood that the pilgrim was none other than the Archangel Gabriel, who had come, as he had before, to deliver the word of the Highest to humanity.

The icon was transferred from the cell to the Holy Altar of the Protaton Church, where a similar icon is preserved to this day. The tile with the divine hymn was taken to Constantinople and included in the Orthodox Church's liturgical books. Soon after, Archangel Gabriel's prayer was incorporated into the Divine Liturgy, immediately following the Consecration of the Gifts of Bread and Wine. The valley with the cells has since been called Adin, meaning "to chant," "chanting."

The icon "It Is Truly Meet" is of inestimable value and has become the protector of Mount Athos. The icon is celebrated on June 11/24, commemorating the miraculous appearance of the Archangel, and on July 13/26, in honor of the Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel.

This icon, of the Eleusa type, portrays gentleness and tenderness in its central figures. The Virgin holds the Child with her right hand, while her left hand, placed beneath His feet, grips the hem of His tunic. The small Jesus wears a short tunic reaching His knees and holds a scroll in His right hand inscribed with the words of the Axion hymn. His left-hand slips under the veil of the Virgin towards her left shoulder. Both figures are crowned with golden halos. Two angels flank the Virgin's halo, while the Almighty in an open heaven blesses with both hands.

Crafted using tempera on wood, the icon is adorned with gold leaf and multicolored enamel, giving the image a unique delicacy. The inscription on the lower frame indicates that the icon was created by the painter Ioasaf in 1905.

The painter monk Ioasaf Berghie (1862-?) of the New Neamț Monastery resided there between 1887 and the 1940s, occupying three rooms to set up his studio, where he worked continuously on icons and church artworks. Born into the family of a church teacher in Jabca village, Ștefan Berghie, Ioan Berghie developed a passion for sacred iconography from an early age. In 1890, Andronic, the abbot of the New Neamț Monastery, blessed him to paint icons. Taking monastic vows in 1895 under the name Ioasaf, he traveled by foot to visit major ecclesiastical centers nearby and further afield, learning the art of iconography. Starting with naive-style interpretations, he eventually mastered professional painting techniques and acquired new decorative skills. His works became highly popular throughout Bessarabia and abroad. Painting a significant number of icons, they were often mistakenly sold as coming from major artisan workshops. To prevent such confusion, he received the abbot's blessing to sign his works, earning recognition and fame for his name.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

"Testimonies from the Gulag: the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime"

Bucharest City Museum - Suțu Palace

May 22 – June 30, 2024

The National History Museum of Moldova in partnership with the Bucharest City Museum, Lietuvos ambasada Moldovoje / Embassy of Lithuania in Moldova and the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, organizes at the Suțu Palace (Bd. Ion C. Brătianu no. 2) from May 22 to June 30, 2024, the photo-documentary exhibition "Testimonies from the Gulag: the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime". The opening of the exhibition, to which the public is invited to participate, will be on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at 2 p.m.

The establishment of the Soviet occupation regime in the territories to the left of the Prut river had dramatic consequences, which are still felt in the society of the Republic of Moldova.

Forced Sovietization started with the adoption, between August 26 and November 4, 1940, of three decisions regarding the recruitment of 59,500 people, mainly from rural areas, as a workforce for the coal and steel industry in the USSR.

On June 12-13, 1941, in the six Bessarabian counties, forcibly incorporated into the USSR, 4,507 people were arrested and 13,885 people were deported. The second wave of deportations from the Moldavian SSR took place on July 5-6, 1949, based on a strictly secret decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, by which 35,796 people were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, of which 11,889 were children. On the night of March 31 to April 1, 1951, the third wave of Stalinist deportations followed in the Moldavian SSR, this time on confessional grounds, subjecting to repression 2,617 people, including 842 children, members of religious organizations considered illegal and anti-Soviet.

Likewise, with the establishment of the Soviet occupation, the grain requisition policy was implemented in Bessarabia based on the decisions of the Council of People's Commissars of the Moldavian SSR and the CC of the PC(b) of the Moldavian SSR of April 9, 1945, by which the peasants were obliged to deliver state grain quotas, and non-compliance with these decisions was punished according to art. 58 and art. 58-1 of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR. As a result of the criminal actions of the Soviet state to requisition grain from peasants in the Moldavian SSR, between December 1946 and August 1947, about 200,000 people died of starvation; adding to these another 350,000 victims affected by malnutrition and dozens of recorded cases of cannibalism.

The photo-documentary exhibition "Testimonies from the Gulag: the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime" presents the narratives of victims and survivors of political repressions and mass deportations during the Soviet era. The images and documents exhibited from the funds of the National Museum of History of Moldova and those capitalized within the State Program "Recovery and historical capitalization of the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR during the years 1940-1941, 1944-1953" present to the general public the horrors of the Soviet totalitarian regime and the memory of this tragic period in today's society.

The exhibition was developed within the project "Culture of memory for societies in the process of democratic transformation: promotion of best practices between Lithuania and the Republic of Moldova", supported by the Program "The Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Program" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania in Republic of Moldova.

Curator: Dr. Ludmila D. Cojocaru

*The term GULAG was taken from the Russian language with the original meaning General Directorate of Labor Camps on the territory of the USSR, which expanded its meaning after 1989 by the emblematic designation of the detention space in any form, including deportations, prisons, forced residence regime , restricting the right to choose a job and livelihood, etc.