#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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Exhibitions

I LOVE SUSHI

Japan Foundation Traveling Exhibition

July 14 – August 15, 2023

Established in 1972, the Japan Foundation creates global opportunities to foster friendship and ties between Japan and the rest of the world through culture, language and dialogue. The foundation runs programs in arts and cultural exchange, Japanese language education abroad, Japanese studies, and intellectual exchange. We are pleased to present the new cultural exchange program and traveling exhibition "I Love Sushi" with the theme of sushi - the emblem of Japanese cuisine in the world.

In 2013, washoku (Japanese cuisine) was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, its symbol being sushi. Refined and healthy, pleasing to the eye and taste, sushi is a dish found today on menus all over the world. Originally from Southeast Asia and Southern China, sushi arrived in Japan more than a thousand years ago. From then until today it has gone through radical changes taking advantage of the abundance of natural resources in and around the Japanese islands, the application of new knowledge in the field and the continued desire of the Japanese to prepare tasty food. At the present time, the most famous variety of sushi is undoubtedly nigiri-zushi, which appeared about two hundred years ago in Edo (today's Tokyo).

Sushi is currently a widely spread and appreciated dish outside of Japan. But despite its popularity, there are few who know all its qualities. This exhibition aims to provide an in-depth visual guide to sushi, from its origins and how it arrived in Japan, the changes it underwent over time in the process of adapting to the natural environment, culture and lifestyle of each region in part, to the celebrity it knows today and its great potential as a food of the future seen from the perspective of the food problems facing the contemporary world. The exhibition also includes a simulation of a visit to a specific Japanese restaurant. Those who know a thing or two about sushi will be delighted by the exhibit, and die-hard fans will find it fascinating. At the same time we hope that sushi will become a means of popularizing Japanese history and customs.

Finally, we would like to thank Mr. Hibino Terutoshi, who coordinated the preparations for the exhibition, as well as all the individuals and organizations whose tireless efforts ensured its success.

The "I Love Sushi" exhibition will be open to the general public from July 14 to August 15, 2023, in Hall 1, ground floor, of the National Museum of History of Moldova, str. 31 August 1989, 121A.