#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

Opening of the exhibition "Centenary of the Constitution of Unified Romania (1923 - 2023)"

December 6, 2023

On December 6, at the National Museum of History of Moldova, the opening of the exhibition "Centenary of the Constitution of Unified Romania (1923 - 2023)" took place. This exhibition of documents and photographs is a celebration of the first fundamental law that regulated the organization of the state, as well as the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens on both banks of the Prut.

The event was organized by the Constitutional Court of Romania and the National Museum of History of Moldova, in partnership with the Presidential Administration of Romania - Cotroceni National Museum, the National Bank of Romania and the Bucharest Metropolitan Library.

The opening of the exhibition was attended by important representatives of state institutions, including representatives of the Presidency of the Republic of Moldova, the Parliament and the Government, judges of the Constitutional Court of Romania and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova, as well as members of the Academy of Sciences of of Moldova and the State University of Moldova.

Among the showpieces of the exhibition are the original copy of the Constitution of 1923, adopted by the Assembly of Deputies and the Senate in the meetings of March 26 and 27, 1923, as well as the Romanian Constitution of 1866. These significant historical documents are highlighted and contextualized with the support of institutional partners, contributing to the understanding of the fundamental evolution of the Romanian state during the last century.

The organizers wish to thank all those involved in the realization of this special event, noting the efforts made to bring to the fore the historical importance of the 1923 Constitution in the process of forming and consolidating the modern Romanian state. This exhibition is not only a historical retrospective, but also an opportunity to celebrate and honor our shared heritage.

The exhibition is open to the public and awaits visitors to discover and understand more deeply the key moments in the constitutional history of the Whole of Romania.