#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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Events Archive

Inauguration of the "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" exhibition

February 1, 2023

On February 1, 2023, in the premises of the National Museum of History of Moldova took place the opening of the "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" exhibition.

The event was opened by Eugen Sava, the General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, who stated that this exhibition is a continuation of the collaboration between NMHM, the Polish Institute in Bucharest and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Chisinau. Mr. Sava highlighted the importance of this beneficial relationship, which has as a results, numerous projects and exhibitions realized during the last years.

Svetlana Pociumban, head of the Cultural Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Natalia Mosor, director of the Polish Institute in Bucharest, came with greetings and speeches, who reiterated the importance of Moldovan-Polish collaboration and thanks to which we can admire this exhibition today.

S.E. Tomasz Michał Kobzdej, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Chisinau, reported on the concept and content of the exhibition. Mr. Ambassador highlighted the main processes that the cities of Central Europe went through in the period after the First World War and how they influenced the architecture of that period, architecture that combines various aspects, among which the political, social and cultural are already found.

The leitmotif of the exhibition is to present the very dynamic period, after 1918, from the perspective of the entire spectrum of changes that influenced the space, urban planning and architecture of the new countries that appeared on the map of Central Europe. In the present case, the architecture of independence is understood more broadly than just individual buildings. It is the symbol of its materiality in the landscape of regions and cities, of the search for new models of national iconography, of the desire to create opportunities for social development, but also of the emergence of the idea of a new man.

Also, the end of the First World War marked the birth of the idea of a new man. The man of the future had to be healthy and athletic, and his body had to resemble a machine. Health and hygiene, sport and active recreation were considered factors of social and moral change, as well as important elements in the consolidation of new societies. Spas have developed, as has the sports infrastructure. Sports halls, racetracks, swimming pools, stadiums that could accommodate thousands of spectators became visible symbols of modernization and a great propaganda tool for the newly created states.

The curators of the exhibition are Łukasz Galusek, Dr. Żanna Komar, Helena Postawka-Lech, Dr. Michał Wiśniewski, Natalia Żak.

The exhibition "Architecture of Independence in Central Europe" is co-financed from the funds of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, as part of the NIEPODLEGŁA Multiannual Program for the years 2017-2022 and can be seen at the National Museum of History of Moldova from February 1-28, 2023.