#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.

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Autumnal school “Dialogue between the young people from both banks of the Dniester for edification of a European memory culture and promotion of democratic values. Implementation of good practices between Lithuania and Moldova” (2024 edition)

The National Museum of History of Moldova, in partnership with the Institute of History of the Moldova State University and the Museum of History of Avdarma, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania and the Hanns Siedel Foundation - Republic of Moldova, between November 1 - 3, 2024, organizes a new edition of the Autumn School "Dialogue between young people from both banks of the Dniester for edification of a European memory culture and promotion of democratic values. Implementation of good practices between Lithuania and Moldova".

The activities to be developed during the Autumnal School, represented by lectures, round tables, case studies and field research, will create a common platform of communication between young people from both banks of the Dniester to address the issues of the history of totalitarian regimes and the consequences for contemporary societies. Places of memory related to the totalitarian-communist past will be brought to the center of attention of the participants, documented and analyzed in the context of building a European memory culture in the Republic of Moldova. The European experience of promoting democratic values and respect for historical knowledge will be approached with reference to the case of the Republic of Lithuania, as an example of putting in value the historical memory to strengthen the society.

The project "Dialogue between young people from both banks of the Dniester for the edification of a European memory culture and the promotion of democratic values. The implementation of good practices between Lithuania and Moldova - Edition 2024" is implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Republic of Moldova and the Hanns Seidel Foundation - Republic of Moldova.