#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

The opening of the exhibition "Mom, I don't want war!!!"

September 30, 2022

On September 30, at 12:00, in front of the National Museum of History of Moldova, was opened the exhibition "Mami, I don't want war!!!", organized in partnership with the Polish Institute from Bucharest, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Moldova and the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition features historical drawings by Polish children from 1946, which record their experience during World War II and the German occupation of 1939-1945, as well as contemporary drawings by Ukrainian children about the ongoing war in Ukraine and which can be found on the Mom I see war portal.

The similarity between the historical drawings and those of today is amazing. Children draw tanks, airplanes from which bombs are dropped, fires and explosions. Draw wounded and dead, ruined houses, graves. They draw themselves and their families, draw evacuation and escape. They also draw their hopes and dreams for the future. The multitude of emotions transposed in the drawings: from fear and despair to hope and faith in victory, confirms one thing - children should not suffer because of war, they deserve to be happy and loved.

During the opening, Eugen Sava, the General Director of the National Museum of History of Moldova, stated that the children's drawings are wonderful but also tragic at the same time and convey a profound message.

Tomasz Michał Kobzdej, the ambassador of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Moldova, noted that "In 1946 children show soldiers in cartoons as people who have been driven mad by nazi or communist ideologies, as monsters. There is no doubt that the wars of adults bring suffering to children. Protecting children who are victims of war is one of the priorities of the foreign policy of the Republic of Poland".

The Ambassador of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova, Marko Shevcenko, stated that "The exhibition is both impressive and paradoxical at the same time. Despite the fact that the distance at which these drawings were made is more than 80 years - the theme is the same. Only the military symbols are different. Evil remains evil regardless of the messages promoted and it is important that everyone unites and fights back against this evil."

The exhibition "Mom, I don't want war!!!" can be seen on the fence of the National Museum of History of Moldova (31 August 1989 street, no. 121 A) between September 30 and October 31, 2022.