#Exhibit of the Month

This year we commemorate 350 years since the birth and 300 years since the death of Dimitrie Cantemir (October 26, 1673 - August 21, 1723), the most famous Romanian humanist thinker and also the author of the first original Romanian philosophical works.

Dimitrie Cantemir represents one of the highest peaks of thought of his time, in all areas that his genius touched - in historiography, geography, philosophy, he opened up new perspectives for development. The great scholar was well acquainted with the Muslim environment, speaking, in addition to Western, also Eastern languages (Turkish, Persian and Arabic), and also had extensive knowledge in the fields of logic, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy and music. This well-educated Christian beyzade, being a born diplomat, won the trust of Sultan Ahmed III, who favorably allowed him to familiarize himself with the documents of imperial history that Cantemir used in working on his famous work "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire", which still remains a reference publication in a specialized bibliography.

The National Museum of History of Moldova possesses a German edition of this work, published in Hamburg in 1745. This edition is an impressive volume of 863 pages, accompanied by a preface in German by the editor, containing words of praise and appreciation: "... we consider that such a work of great significance must be known to the Germans in their mother tongue..."

Dimitrie Cantemir was the first scholar to show that the history of the Ottoman Empire divides into two parts. The first part that of growth, includes biographies of 19 sultans and ends around 1672, when the empire entered a new phase, that of political and military decline. Through this work, Cantemir tried to draw attention to the need for an alliance of European countries against Turkish expansion. At the same time, he praised certain aspects of the culture of the Turkish people.

Like "Description of Moldavia", "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire" enjoyed wide popularity in European countries. The work was first translated into Russian by Dmitry Grozin, but was not printed. After the death of Dimitrie Cantemir, thanks to his son Antiochus, who became the Russian ambassador in London and then in Paris, this fundamental writing of our scholar was translated and published in English (two volumes, 1734-1735, followed by a new edition in 1756) and in French (1743, in four small volumes). In 1745, the work was also published in German. It was read, highly valued and used in their writings by Voltaire, Byron, Victor Hugo and others. This is the first treatise that addresses the issue of Ottoman power and the multicultural nature of the empire. Work on it began during the author's stay in the Ottoman Empire, resumed after 1711, and finished in 1717. This writing brought him European fame and placed him among the great scholars of the time.

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Events Archive

Totalization Seminar “Researching the memory of the victims of communist-totalitarian regime in the Moldavian SSR”

October 31, 2022

On October 31, 2022, the Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions of the National Museum of History of Moldova, in cooperation with the Association of Former Deportees and Political Detainees from Moldova, organized the totalization seminar on the field studies within the memory communities of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR, implemented between June 1 and October 31, 2022.

The working group was represented by young researchers, museographers, historians, journalists, and philologists. The participants presented the results of the investigations: 426 photos, documents, letters, personal items, and diaries from the families of former deportees and political prisoners from the years 1940-1941 and 1944-1953; about 50 of these artefacts will be transferred to the National Museum of History of Moldova. In addition, the problems and solutions applied during the field documentation were discussed, as well as the future perspectives on valorization of the collected material.

Ludmila Cojocaru, head of the branch of the Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions within the National Museum of History of Moldova, in her conclusions mentioned the importance of documenting and putting in values the imagistic heritage and disseminating historical knowledge on the subject of the totalitarian-communist past.

The event is organized within the project "Building the European culture of memory, developing democratic values and strengthening European solidarity through research and dissemination of historical knowledge. Cooperation and promotion of good practices between Lithuania and Moldova", financed by the funds of the Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.