#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

"The German Colony of Emmental – Artistic Reflections"

September 17 – October 17, 2024

The exhibition "The German Colony of Emmental - Artistic Reflections," organized by the National Museum of History of Moldova in partnership with the Municipality of Pervomaisc, will be inaugurated on September 17, 2024, at 1:00 PM. It marks 210 years since the arrival of the first German settlers in Bessarabia, offering an artistic journey into the history and heritage of the German community in the region.

The Germans of Bessarabia represented the last wave of German emigrants who settled in "New Russia" following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by Russia in May 1812. In the Appeal "To the Germans of the Duchy of Warsaw," dated November 29, 1813, Tsar Alexander I invited German settlers to establish themselves by the Black Sea, promising them land and freedoms. The immigrants came mainly from southwestern Germany and Prussia.

Over 125 years of colonization, this minority developed a prosperous community in Bessarabia, characterized by local autonomy and a strong Protestant work ethic. The German settlers lived in peaceful proximity with other ethnic and religious communities. In 1940, following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939), 93,500 Germans from Bessarabia were relocated, primarily to occupied Poland. At the beginning of 1945, they were forced to flee and create new lives in a divided Germany.

The exhibition explores the story and legacy of the German settlers from Emmental (now Pervomaisc), one of the largest German colonies in Bessarabia, reflected in the paintings of Antonina Casap, a native of this village. The displayed works evoke rural landscapes of unique serenity, the specific architecture of German villages, portraits depicting the daily lives of settlers, the community's traditions and customs, as well as abstract compositions reflecting the dynamic cultural and social changes.

The exhibition discourse offers a new perspective on how art can interpret the history of a community. Each displayed work acts as a bridge between the past and the present, inviting reflection on how history shapes our collective and individual identities.

The exhibition "The German Colony of Emmental - Artistic Reflections" will be open to visitors from September 17 to October 9, 2024, at the National Museum of History of Moldova, 121A August 31, 1989 Street, Chișinău.