#Exhibit of the Month

This remarkable portrait of Mihai Eminescu, created by artist Alexandru Gușanov, is based on one of the four known photographs of the poet. The photograph that inspired this portrait was taken in 1869 in Wenceslas Square, Prague, when Eminescu was only 19 years old. The oval composition and harmonious color palette highlight the prominent personality and charisma of the young poet, capturing an expression that conveys both melancholy and intellectual depth.
Alexandru Gușanov (1929-2005), a Moldovan painter of Ukrainian origin, distinguished himself through his extensive work, comprising approximately 5,000 pieces - portraits, landscapes, and still life paintings. Settled in Moldova since 1945, Gușanov graduated from the Republican Art School "I.E. Repin" in Chișinău in 1952. His works were showcased in numerous national and international exhibitions and were highly appreciated in countries such as France, Hungary, Russia, and Yugoslavia. The artist dedicated a significant part of his career to creating portraits of historical and cultural figures, including Dimitrie Cantemir, Mihail Kogălniceanu, and Alexei Mateevici, which are part of the National Museum of History of Moldova's collection.

The subject of the portrait, Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889), is the most significant poet in Romanian literature, whose works reflect profound thought, sensitivity toward nature, and national identity. At the age of 19, when the photograph that inspired this portrait was taken, Eminescu was in the midst of his intellectual formation, preparing to become the iconic voice of Romanian culture. Among his most famous works is the poem Luceafărul (The Morning Star), a masterpiece of universal literature.

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Exhibitions

"Memory of an Undeclared War" (2012)

On March 2, 1992, when the President of the Republic of Moldova Mircea Snegur was speaking at the plenary session of UN General Assembly the speech of thanks on the occasion of receipt of Moldova to the United Nations, groups of guardsmen and Cossacks armed with submachine guns and armored cars stormed the district police department headquarters at Dubăsari. The first victims were killed. To the south, in Vulcănești, another armed group attacked the police district headquarters. The same happens simultaneously to Bender, Grigoriopol, and Cocieri... Mentions and more detailed reviews of those dramatic events can be found in various sources: albums, books, collections of documents, memoirs, newspaper accounts. The commemorative exhibition "Memory of an Undeclared War" offers us a photo-documentary chronicle of this war.

It was conceived as a tribute to all participants in the struggle to protect the integrity and independence of the Republic of Moldova and, above all, those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the motherland. The exhibition brings together over 250 museum objects: photographic images, fragments of arms and ammunition collected from the battlefield, documents and personal objects of the combatants fallen in the fighting on the Dniester, books and newspapers that depict cruel realities of the war.

Stunning images made by photographers N. Pojoga, M. Venger, T. Iovu, A. Mardare, S. Voronin, T. Anghel and some others reflect the ordeal the defenders of Moldova have gone through in the battles of Dubăsari and Tighina, on the plateaus of Cocieri and Coșnița, they immortalized heroism and courage of the Moldavian policemen and volunteers and showed hardships and humiliations of the war, destroyed families, homes and villages in ruins, faces of women and children distorted with pain of loss of those they loved.

A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to police officers killed in the fighting for the independence and integrity of the Republic of Moldova.

The content of the exhibition is complemented by a collection of papers and memoirs about the armed conflict on the Dniester signed by researchers, participants and eyewitnesses of the events: Valentina Ursu, Ilie Ilașcu, Mircea Radu Iacoban, General Ion Costaș, Colonel Anatol Munteanu, Anatolie Moraru, Nicolae Ciubotaru, Gh. Budeanu, Vlad Grecu, and others.

The exhibition "Memory of an Undeclared War" is organized in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the armed conflict on the Dniester and is dedicated to all defenders of the integrity and independence of the Republic of Moldova.

#Exhibit of the Month

Portrait of Mihai Eminescu by Alexandru Gușanov

"Memory of an Undeclared War" (2012)

#Exhibit of the Month