#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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Publications

Library „Tyragetia"

Simion CARP, Ghenadie CHIRIŢA, Terentie CARP, Ecaterina GÎRBU

Military traditions (past, present, future)

Series Biblioteca „Tyragetia” XXII, Chișinău, 2013, 375 p. ISBN 978-9975-80-703-6.

The authors of the volume Military Traditions (past, present, future) set as main aim to collect, to select, to arrange, to analyze, to highlight and to synthesize, as much as possible, all documentary resources and to include in the scientific circuit the military traditions, the military deeds, the military art, the actions of bravery, courage and spirit of sacrifice shown by our predecessors on the battlefields for the soldierly glory and honor.

The work, as conceived by the authors, covers the main aspects of military tradition issues. Its primary objective is to introduce into the scientific, educational, didactic and cultural circuit the old military traditions, and to synthesize and rebuild, on their base, a contemporary fight style absolutely necessary to the military-patriotic orientation of young generation and for the creation of a new national school of close fight.

The military history of predecessors was rebuilt on a rich documentary material identified in various categories of resources (written, ancient and medieval resources, bas-reliefs, wall painting etc.) collected with big competence and which highlight real possibilities for the use of soldierly glory for patriotic education of students and future defenders of the fatherland.

The publication presents studies in fields of history, culture, traditions, military art, pedagogy with well argued conclusions and synthesis, with highlighted concepts framing into the national ideas - a very important thing for our fellow citizens from the republic and from abroad. In the book are depicted certain events, wars, military conflicts which do not feature in history textbooks, by presentation of new archival data, war letters, list of Bessarabians participants at wars from the end of 19th - beginning of 20th centuries and of notorious personalities that contributed to the evolution of history and national and universal culture. Also, are described and analyzed military traditions and war tactics that were included in the history of universal military art. The portrait of our fellow citizen with his positive traits is presented into a special plastic paradigm.