#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.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„One century of Riga’s history: from 1914 until 2014”

Organized by the Embassy of Latvia in the Republic of Moldova at the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia

October 5th-20th, 2016

The goal of the exhibition is, alongside important events in Europe, to reflect the events of the same time period in Riga; by means of various pictures and their combinations, to touch upon the themes of war and freedom as well as the outstanding personalities of the time, with the aim of showing the various, open, and multi-faceted Riga. The exhibition is formed and reflected by juxtapositions of various tendencies; fashion, architecture, design, music and other spheres and events of culture.

Motto of the exhibition: "The Phoenix of Riga"
Riga is similar to the Phoenix in Ancient Greek mythology - the bird that after burning has always been able to resurrect from ashes. Over one century, Riga has seen seven changes of the ruling power:
- Tsarist Russia;
- the German Kaiser;
- "red" Soviet Latvia and "white" Republic of Latvia;
- USSR occupation and Nazi Third Reich;
- Soviet occupation again
- up to the restoration of an independent Republic of Latvia.

Riga saw the evacuation of its factories in 1915, which diminished its population by a half; it saw the attacks of the Bermondt army, which left the quay of the river Daugava in ruins. The agrarian reform in the 1920s gave the city land property and made it possible to dream about the construction of an enlarged city with one million inhabitants. The devastation of Old Riga in 1941 was followed by restoration after the war, the city expanded into the former pastures and kitchen gardens, building new residential areas. The present-day Riga is proud of its cultural heritage.

The exhibition shows the impact of a series of events, which have taken place in Europe of the 20th century, over the history of Latvians, the impact that has resulted in the loss of independence of the Republic of Latvia. The major events - the wars and revolutions - are illustrated by panels with black-and-white and red fragments of historical photographs. The removal of ruins and the new construction to start everything from scratch is illustrated by the history of two nodal points - the City Hall Square and the Citadel. City scenes will be supplemented with information on everyday life: how the ordinary Rigan lived, what he ate, how he worked and recreated himself...

The pictures will show the flourishing Riga after World War I, the burning Riga in 1941, Soviet Riga, the Barricade Time and the 20 years of restored independence. We will stress Riga's ability to always resurrect as the Phoenix from ashes.