#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.

Virtual Tour

April 2022

Jesus Christ the True Vine (icon)

Bessarabia, 1920s-1930s, painter Ioan Protcenco
Wood, tempera, 60x95 cm
The icon comes from the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in the village of Ghidighici

In the icon composition, Jesus Christ is depicted in an almost frontal position, on the altar table, with both feet in the vessel into which His blood flows. In the lower part of the icon, angels kneel on white clouds. On the speech scrolls of the angels in the upper part of the composition is written: "Take and eat of My Body", "Take and drink of My Blood". The nimbus of the Savior is rendered in the form of a gilded disc outlined with a brown line, and the biblical acrostic is inscribed on His cross: I.N.R.I. - Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews) (John 19:19). The border of the icon is a simple gold-colored frame with a wide brown line on the edges.

Several iconographic compositions from the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova are dedicated to the Holy Eucharist, to which the icons "Jesus Christ the True Vine" are also related. These compositions on the theme of the mystery of salvation are characterized by images that have a deep symbolic meaning - the Altar Table, the Cross and the Holy Chalice. The content of the image of Christ the Vine goes beyond the historical context of the events of salvation, suggesting the transcendent concept of the sacraments performed on the Holy Altar during the Liturgy. In these compositions, the resurrected Jesus Christ sits on the Altar Table in front of the Cross, from His rib growing a vine with grapes squeezed by the Savior directly into the Holy Chalice. The theological content of the scene is in the true presence of the Savior in the Eucharist, through the wine in the Holy Chalice, which is the Blood of the Lord, and through His Body, which is right on the table of the Holy Altar. The Cross, which represents the passions, death and resurrection of the Lord, in these scenes emphasizes the character of the bloodless sacrifice in the Holy Liturgy, through which the sacrifice of Christ is constantly renewed. The Holy Chalice, the keeper of the sacrament, is a mystical vessel that symbolizes the cup of wine used by the Savior at the Last Supper, during which the Holy Eucharist was established, as well as the cup, which the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John used to catch blood from the wounds of the Savior at the crucifixion (John 19:34). It is also a vessel used in the Holy Liturgy, into which wine and a little water are poured, which symbolizes the blood of the Lord.

One of the first to touch upon this topic in his art creation was the famous Angelos Akotantos (†1450), a Greek painter of noble origin from Candia. Angelos Akotantos is considered to be the first painter to sign his icons, as Χειρ Αγγέλου (Greek: "Angel's Hand"). He is regarded as the greatest Greek painter of the first half of the 15th century, his highly artistic works inspired famous artists such as Andreas Ritzos, Andreas Pavias and Nikolaos Tzafouris. His icons on the theme of Christ the Vine could be seen in the first half of the 15th century in several holy places on the island of Crete, including the Hodegetria Monastery in Kenurgio, the monasteries of Varsamonero (Voriza) and Malles (Ierapetra). They depicted the Savior in a vine, surrounded at the level of His nimbus by the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and along the vertical edges of the icon by the other ten apostles; this iconographic model was inspired by the text of the Gospel "I am the vine; you are the branches" (John 15:5).