#Exhibit of the Month

Manufactured in 1902 by AG vorm Siedel & Nauman in Dresden, Germany.

Dimensions: Length - 38 cm, Width - 35 cm, Height - 20 cm. Weight - 16 kg. It entered the museum collection in 1984, transferred from the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History.

The typewriter features a standard carriage mounted on ball bearings and rollers, along with a keyboard equipped with 42 keys. These contain two complete sets of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, punctuation marks, numbers, and mathematical symbols, enabling the typing of 126 characters. Beneath the metal casing, the type bars are arranged in a fan-like pattern, holding embossed characters and ink ribbon rollers. When the keys are pressed, the type bars strike the inked ribbon, imprinting characters onto the paper tensioned in the machine's roller system.

The side panels are elegantly decorated with refined cast-iron elements in the Art Nouveau style, displaying the brand name - "Ideal." The Polyglott model, featuring a bilingual keyboard patented in the United Kingdom by Max Klaczko from Riga, Latvia, was produced between 1902 and 1913, marking the first typewriter capable of writing in two languages. The "Ideal Polyglott" typewriter was actively sold in the Russian Empire and gained significant popularity in Poland, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The typewriter - a mechanical device used for printing text directly onto paper - ranks among the most important inventions of the modern era, as it revolutionized communication. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, it became an indispensable tool, widely used by writers, in offices, for business correspondence, and in private homes. The peak of typewriter sales occurred in the 1950s when the average annual sales in the United States reached 12 million units. In November 2012, the British Brother factory produced what it claimed to be the last typewriter, which was donated to the Science Museum in London.
The advent of computers, word processing software, printers, and the decreasing cost of these technologies led to the typewriter's disappearance from the mainstream market, turning it into a museum exhibit.
June 23 marks Typewriter Day, commemorating the date when American journalist and inventor Christopher Latham Sholes patented his typewriter. This day celebrates the simple yet revolutionary device that has become history, as well as the remarkable literary achievements it has enabled since 1868.

Virtual Tour

#Exhibit of the Month

November 2020

Chair that belonged to the great Bessarabian philanthropist and patriot Vasile Stroescu (1845-1926)

The National Museum of History of Moldova collects, preserves, researches and exhibits, for the purpose of knowledge and education, material evidence related to the history of Bessarabia. The museum collections are constantly enriched through acquisitions, donations and archaeological excavations.

In the first half of 2018, the museum collections were replenished with new material values, related to the history of the nobility in Bessarabia. As a result of the field investigations, carried out in the village of Brânzeni, Edineț District, five pieces of furniture were purchased, which belonged to Vasile Stroescu: a cabinet, a sofa, a chest of drawers, a chair and a wall mirror. The pieces were purchased from Elizaveta Gureu, the granddaughter of Gheorghe Tincu, who was the manager of the Brânzeni estate, owned by the Stroescu family.

Recently restored, the chair displayed in this showcase dates from the late 19th century - early 20th century. It is made of oak wood in a Russian workshop and has an invaluable memorial value. Its significance is explained by the fact that in the upper part of its back there is an engraved monogram in Cyrillic letters: "СВ", representing the initials of the name and surname of Vasile Stroescu.

This year marks 175 years since the birth of the great Bessarabian philanthropist and patriot, who was called the patron of Romania, Vasile Stroescu, one of the few boyars who put his whole life and fortune in the service of the Romanian Nation.

Vasile Stroescu originated from an old Moldovan boyar family. He was born on November 11, 1845, in Trinca village, Khotin Uyezd (now Edinet District), in the family of Vasile Ion Stroescu (1795-1875) and Porfira Manoil Guţu (1808-1856).

He was one of the most remarkable Romanian figures of Bessarabia, proving himself, through his patriotism, as a political visionary, as a promoter of the reunification of the nation and, especially, as one of the most generous Romanian philanthropists, who promoted all the most beautiful and sacred in the culture of the Romanian people.

His life and tireless activity testify to the complexity of the personality of the man whom the historian Nicolae Iorga called "a great Romanian of kindness and a generous benefactor". The great philanthropist Vasile Stroescu was and remains an example of service to the Romanian people, fully deserving our respect for his memory and deeds.