#Exhibit of the Month

Manufactured in 1902 by AG vorm Siedel & Nauman in Dresden, Germany.

Dimensions: Length - 38 cm, Width - 35 cm, Height - 20 cm. Weight - 16 kg. It entered the museum collection in 1984, transferred from the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History.

The typewriter features a standard carriage mounted on ball bearings and rollers, along with a keyboard equipped with 42 keys. These contain two complete sets of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, punctuation marks, numbers, and mathematical symbols, enabling the typing of 126 characters. Beneath the metal casing, the type bars are arranged in a fan-like pattern, holding embossed characters and ink ribbon rollers. When the keys are pressed, the type bars strike the inked ribbon, imprinting characters onto the paper tensioned in the machine's roller system.

The side panels are elegantly decorated with refined cast-iron elements in the Art Nouveau style, displaying the brand name - "Ideal." The Polyglott model, featuring a bilingual keyboard patented in the United Kingdom by Max Klaczko from Riga, Latvia, was produced between 1902 and 1913, marking the first typewriter capable of writing in two languages. The "Ideal Polyglott" typewriter was actively sold in the Russian Empire and gained significant popularity in Poland, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The typewriter - a mechanical device used for printing text directly onto paper - ranks among the most important inventions of the modern era, as it revolutionized communication. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, it became an indispensable tool, widely used by writers, in offices, for business correspondence, and in private homes. The peak of typewriter sales occurred in the 1950s when the average annual sales in the United States reached 12 million units. In November 2012, the British Brother factory produced what it claimed to be the last typewriter, which was donated to the Science Museum in London.
The advent of computers, word processing software, printers, and the decreasing cost of these technologies led to the typewriter's disappearance from the mainstream market, turning it into a museum exhibit.
June 23 marks Typewriter Day, commemorating the date when American journalist and inventor Christopher Latham Sholes patented his typewriter. This day celebrates the simple yet revolutionary device that has become history, as well as the remarkable literary achievements it has enabled since 1868.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

World Press Photo

November 15 – December 6, 2023

Traditionally, in November, the Republic of Moldova will host the World Press Photo International Exhibition. The 2023 edition of this prestigious competition, which recognizes quality photojournalism, will be organized in Chisinau for the seventh consecutive time, but also, for the first time, in Comrat. The two exhibitions are organized by the Center for Independent Journalism (CJI) and the Piko Creative Agency, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chisinau.

The exhibition, which includes the best photographs taken in the world during 2022, will be launched in Chisinau on November 15, in the premises of the National History Museum of Moldova, and in Comrat on November 22 in the premises of the State University of Comrat.

The World Press Photo 2023 competition was held in six regions around the world - Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America, South America and Southeast Asia, and Oceania. The jury finally selected 24 regional winners, of which four global winners were named:

World Press Photo of the Year - "Airstrike on Mariupol Maternity Hospital" by Evgeniy Maloletka for Associated Press;
World Press Photo Story of the Year - "The Price of Peace in Afghanistan" by Mads Nissen for Politiken/Panos Pictures.
World Press Photo Long Term Project - "Battered Waters" by Anush Babajanyan for VII Photo/National Geographic Society.
Open Format World Press Photo - "The Doors Don't Know Me" by Mohamed Mahdy.

The 24 winners and six honorable mentions, whose photographs reflect frontline histories of war, culture, identity, migration, were selected by an independent jury from a total of 60,448 photographs submitted by 3,752 photographers from 127 countries. The winning images of World Press Photo 2023 draw attention to the biggest issues facing humanity today - documenting the war in Ukraine and the impact of the war on civilians, the historic protests in Iran, the realities of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the many aspects of the climate crisis in countries such as Morocco, Australia, Peru, Kazakhstan. At the same time, the contest emphasizes the importance of press photography throughout the world.

The regional winners of the World Press Photo Contest 2023 are 24 photographers from 23 countries: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Peru , South Africa, Spain, Philippines, Ukraine, United States and Venezuela.

The launch of the exhibition will take place on November 15, at 15:00, at the National Museum of History of Moldova, based on invitations. The general public is invited to discover the stories behind the winning photos between November 16 and December 6, 2023, in Room no. 1 of the National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 street, 121A.

#Exhibit of the Month

"Ideal" Mechanical Typewriter, Model A Polyglott

World Press Photo

November 15 – December 6, 2023

#Exhibit of the Month