#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

Events Archive

International Scientific Convention and Inauguration of Exhibition at The National Museum Of History of Moldova

June 24, 2025

On June 24, in the Blue Hall of the National Museum of History of Moldova, the scientific conference "1940 in the history of Lithuania and Bessarabia: historical and memorial perspectives" took place, an event organized in cooperation with the Institute of History of the Moldova State University and the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania, with the support of the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme of the MFA of the Republic of Lithuania and the Hanns Seidel Foundation - Republic of Moldova.

The event was dedicated to the commemoration of the 85th anniversary of the annexation of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Herța Land by the USSR - a dramatic rupture in the history of the Romanian space, with profound political, social and cultural consequences, bringing together about 50 participants from the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Lithuania.

The conference was inaugurated by the General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, dr. hab. Eugen Sava, who mentioned the systematic effort undertaken by the National Museum of History of Moldova in order to scientifically valorize the history and memory of the survivors of Stalinist deportations, as well as its openness to cooperation at the national and international levels toward edification of a European memory in the Republic of Moldova.

Among the honorary guests at the conference was the attaché of the Republic of Lithuania in the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Liudas Gintautas Dabkus, who reiterated the full support in organizing the event and the importance of the joint efforts undertaken by historians, researchers, school teachers and young people from Lithuania and Moldova to deepen the understanding of the history of our countries.

The welcoming speech on behalf of the academic community was delivered by acad. Valeriu Pasat, representative of the Institute of History of the Moldova State University, who emphasized the importance of this scientific forum as an opportunity for the exchange of experience and for deepening, through a comparative scientific approach, the totalitarian-communist phenomenon.

During the conference, communications were presented by the following guests: dr. Darius Juodis, coordinating researcher at the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania; Ramona Staveckaitė-Notari, head of the Historical Research Programs at the Genocide and Resistance Research Center of Lithuania; Ramunė Driaučiūnaitė, Director of the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights of Lithuania; dr. Virgiliu Bîrlădeanu, Head of the Contemporary History Section of the Institute of History of the Moldova State University; dr. Lidia Pădureac, prime-vice-Rector of the "Alecu Russo" State University of Bălți; Olga Trandafilova, Director of the Museum of History of the village of Avdarma. The speakers approached the events of 1940 year from a historical and memorial perspective, highlighting the geopolitical context of the period, reflection in that time sources and collective memory, the atrocities and historical traumas generated by the Soviet occupation regime.

The conference works were crowned by the opening of the exhibition "Places of Memory in the Post-Totalitarian Society" (curators: dr. Elena Postică, dr. Ludmila D. Cojocaru). The exhibition reveals important aspects of commemorative culture in the post-totalitarian society of the former socialist camp (Poland, Romania) and the ex-Soviet space (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia), therefore contributing to the building of a culture of common European memory.

***

The event was organized within the project "Partnership for Strengthening Societal Resilience through the Promotion of Democratic Values and the Dissemination of Historical Knowledge: Exchange of Experience and Application of Best Practices Between the Academic Community and Civil Society Organizations from Lithuania and Moldova", implemented with the support of the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme of the MFA of the Republic of Lithuania.