#Exhibit of the Month

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, 2026 was declared by the President of Romania the Year of Constantin Brâncuși. Constantin Brâncuși, one of the greatest sculptors of the twentieth century, was born in 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County, and passed away in 1957 in Paris; he was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery. In 1904 he arrived in Paris, where he attended courses at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. There he also worked in the studio of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the founder of modern sculpture, and met Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920), the Italian sculptor settled in France. Inspired by the work of these artists, he perfected his artistic training in Paris. His works are held in museums both at home and abroad, in the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, France, and the United States of America. For his outstanding merits he was awarded the Order of the Star of Romania in 1923; in 1931 Nicolae Iorga proposed him for the Order of Cultural Merit; and only in 1990 was he posthumously elected a member of the Romanian Academy.
One of the artist's most famous creations is the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany, considered a national symbol of modern Romanian art. Its protagonist was Margaret Pogany (1879-1964), a young Hungarian painter who came to Paris in 1909 to study painting techniques. Visiting her studio, she asked the sculptor to make her portrait, even leaving him a photograph and a self-portrait. In 1911 Brâncuși sculpted her likeness from memory in marble and in bronze, focusing on the deep, large, almond-shaped eyes, the subdued eyebrows, the narrow nose, the small mouth, the austere hairstyle and the modest gesture of the hands, rested against the face. Between 1912 and 1933 he produced nineteen versions of Mademoiselle Pogany.

The commemorative medal "Constantin Brâncuși (1876-1976). Expoziție Filatelică Omagială - București 1976" was struck in Romania at the State Mint by the engraver Ștefan Grudinschi. Executed in bronze with a diameter of 60 mm and a weight of 113.73 g, the medal is remarkable for its memorial and artistic value. Obverse: the sculptor's bust facing left, with the semicircular legend "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - 1876-1976." Reverse: a fragment of the triptych The Gate of the Kiss. Semicircular legend: "EXPOZIȚIA FILATELICĂ OMAGIALĂ - BUCUREȘTI 1976."
The medal "Constantin Brâncuși. Mademoiselle Pogany. Craiova Art Museum. 1987" was also executed in bronze at the State Mint (Bucharest); it has a nominal diameter of 60 mm (because of the circular cutting the actual dimensions are D: 45 mm; weight: 53.55 g). The obverse shows, in the central field, an image of the Craiova Art Museum framed by the semicircular legend "MUZEUL DE ARTĂ - CRAIOVA / 1987." The reverse depicts a replica of the sculpture Mademoiselle Pogany made by Brâncuși's pupil O. Moșescu, accompanied by the inscription "CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI - M-elle POGANY / 1913."

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Events Archive

Inauguration of the "Bessarabians in the Gulag" exhibition in GNAS

July 6, 2023

On July 6, the "Bessarabians in the Gulag" exhibition was inaugurated in the Great National Assembly Square, where the shocking testimonies of the victims of the Stalinist deportations from Bessarabia are exhibited. Two train cars, identical to those used for deportations, were brought into GNAS, giving the public the opportunity to get up close to this tragic part of our history.

The exhibition organized by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, in collaboration with the National Museum of History of Moldova, the National Archives Agency and the National Library of the Republic of Moldova, presents authentic and old images that illustrate the unfortunate fate of the deported people. One of the carriages hosts a thematic exhibition with pieces from the National Museum of History of Moldova, including a series of pieces that were part of the exhibition "Remembering childhood, the testimonies of Bessarabian deportees" inaugurated at the Arbor Culture and Arts Association in 2022, curated by Victoria Nagy Vajda. In the other carriage, the documentary film "Siberia in Bones" will be shown, which will be broadcast every day at 18:00 and 20:00.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Sergiu Prodan, the Minister of Culture, emphasized the importance of bringing these wagons not only to the Government, but also to every locality in Moldova. He highlighted that these dramatic images represent the real lives of people and families who were brutally deported. The Minister expressed the wish that, within a year, the Ministry of Culture, with the support of the Parliament and the Government, would help the National Museum of History of Moldova in its efforts to provide support to every museum in the country and, where it does not exist, to establish at least one chamber of memory, so that every locality in the Republic of Moldova has access to this important page of our history.

July 6 marks the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of Stalinism, coinciding with the moment when the biggest wave of Stalinist deportations took place. On the night of July 5-6, 1949, the Soviet regime deported tens of thousands of Bessarabian peasants to forced labor camps in Siberia, confiscating their property. In the period 1941-1951, three waves of deportations took place, and historians' estimates indicate that the total number of deported Bessarabians would be between 80 and 120 thousand. Through this exhibition, we aim to bring to the attention of the public these tragic events of our past and to honor the memory of the victims of these inhuman atrocities.

The "Bessarabians in the Gulag" exhibition is open to visitors from July 6-30, until 21:00.