#Exhibit of the Month

Christmas bells entered the Romanian cultural space through a long process in which archaic traditions blended with Christian belief and European influences. Long before the holiday of Christmas developed as we know it, metallic sounds played an important ritual role in old communities: they were used to drive away evil spirits, to purify spaces, and to protect people during transitional moments at the turn of the year. These beliefs have been preserved in winter customs such as caroling, the Plugușor, and masked dances, where bells and jingles were indispensable.
With the spread of Christianity, the sound of the bell also acquired a profound religious meaning, becoming an announcer of major feasts and a symbol of the Nativity. Small bells, however, were not originally used as decorations but primarily as functional or ritual objects.
The first decorated Christmas tree in the Romanian lands was the one at the palace of Prince Carol I of Hohenzollern, following his arrival in the Romanian Principalities in 1866. From that moment the tradition took root, and on Christmas Eve princes and princesses invited to the palace would take part in decorating the tree. Among the ornaments used were small metal bells, symbolizing joy, the good news, and divine protection for the home.
In the twentieth century, Christmas bells spread across all Romanian provinces and became a visual emblem of the holiday, appearing in both decorations and carols. Even during periods when religious expression was curtailed, bells remained in people's homes as signs of joy and the continuity of tradition. Today they retain this dual meaning: the echo of ancient beliefs and, at the same time, the announcement of the Birth of Christ - a symbol of hope, light, and the link between past and present.
These tinkling pieces are part of a generous heritage collection at the National Museum of History of Moldova (NMHM), which includes more than 200 cultural items. A substantial contribution to the museum's collection of decorative bells was made by Dorina Raischi, a teacher at School No. 94 in Chișinău, who donated 174 bells, of which around 30 are winter-themed. Made of ceramic, porcelain, glass, and metal, they were brought from different parts of the world and together offer a succinct picture of the global culture of bells. They add a festive note to the home and even to a gift, and it is hard to imagine Christmas without their cheerful tinkling.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

“The Architecture of Independence in Central Europe”

1-28 February, 2023

On February 1st, 2023, at 12:00, the National Museum of History of Moldova invites you to the opening of the Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" exhibition.

The end of the World War I in 1918 radically changed the geopolitical image of Central Europe. It brought freedom to many nations, while for others it meant profound changes to the existing framework of political and economic life. War damage, shifting borders and the clash with new political realities left their mark on the development of culture and the shape of architecture in this part of the continent in the following decades. You will discover how Bucharest, Warsaw, Tallinn, Eforie Nord and Chernivtsi have changed by reading the Romanian version of the exhibition "Independence Architecture in Central Europe" prepared by the Polish Institute in Bucharest. It can be viewed on the fence of the National Museum of History of Moldova in Chisinau from February 1 to February 28, 2023.

"It was a short but very dynamic period. A mosaic of new countries emerged on the map of Central Europe. A dream that formed after the tragedy of the First World War was to regain stability, to introduce order into the world torn apart, to find a new system for nations that finally gained their desired subjectivity" - says Łukasz Galusek, the deputy director for programme policy at the ICC and one of the curators of the exhibition. "Now, over a one hundred years later, we can look back at the moment when this new order was formed; for many, this was a time to celebrate, for others this date still provokes reflections. We look at our part of the continent in a broad horizon, trying to embrace a wide spectrum of changes happening at the time, which were reflected in space, urban planning, and architecture".

The titular architecture of independence should be understood more broadly than individual buildings. Its goal was to mark its subjectivity in the landscape of regions and cities, to search for new models of national iconography, to create opportunities for social development, as well as create an idea of a new man.

Political changes cast former lively metropolises into oblivion, while provincial towns became capitals of new states or regions. The state's authority was expressed by the monumental forms of architecture that housed its institutions - newly built or redesigned - as well as of churches and public spaces that offered scenography for the theatre of power. It was also a moment of particularly powerful presence of conflicts of memory and the problem of dissonant and unwanted heritage. Independence meant not only the creation of new national symbols, but also the destruction of marks of foreign domination and their oblivion from collective memory. Success was enjoyed by modernism, which was developed to serve the poorest groups of society (e.g., new housing estates in Vienna, Bratislava, and Warsaw), but in time gained a new, luxurious form.

After the Great War, a new idea of humanity was born. One of the most interesting visions of the man of the future was conceived in Central Europe. In 1920, a Czech writer Karel Čapek published his drama R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti), with robots, biological mutants, as protagonists who rebel against people and take control over the world. Čapek's work prepared the ground for science-fiction literature, with its still resounding echo in the commonly used word ROBOT (from the old Slavic "rob" or "rab" meaning slave or servant).

The man of the future was envisioned as healthy and fit, while his body was to resemble a machine. Health and hygiene, sports and active leisure were considered factors of social and personal change as well as important vehicles of consolidation of new societies. This dynamic transformation was well illustrated by the evolution of spas and sports facilities. Sports halls, racing tracks, swimming pools, and stadiums able to accommodate thousands of viewers were a visible sign of modernisation and a perfect tool for propagandist messages communicated by the newly emerged states.

This multimedia exhibition was addressed to art viewers without any age restrictions, both to the lovers and scholars of architectural history and applied arts, as well as to those interested in cultural and social changes of the early 20th century.

The makers of this exhibition wished to show a multi-layered nature of the subject matter through the presentation of archive architecture designs, original photographs from the period, films, as well as visualisations and models of architecture designed into the 1920s and ‘30s. Maps illustrating dynamically shifting borders of countries that regained independence will be shown as an integral part of the exhibition.

The exhibition came with a series of related lectures titled 1918. The culture of new Europe, offering introduction to the history and culture of Central European countries in the interwar period, as well as an extensive programme of educational events addressed to all age groups.

Curators: Łukasz Galusek, dr Żanna Komar, Helena Postawka-Lech, dr Michał Wiśniewski, Natalia Żak.

Financed by the polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the Multiannual Programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017-2022.