Tyragetia

31-39

Authors: Elena Chiaburu

The investigation is made in a historical, geographical and religious context, it detects differences and corrects errors that appeared over time. After two centuries since the founding of the Diocese of Chişinău there is no clear evidence that its founder, Gavriil Bănulescu (Bodoni), was a Romanian. The conclusion we proposed is the possibility that Gavriil might be of Little Russian origin, from Galicia situated on the border with Transylvania and Bukovina. In Galicia there are two rivers called „Bystrytsya”, which merge into one behind the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk and flow into the Dniester, so that the confusion with the Bistriţa River in Transylvania is possible. Another argument is the fact that the Callimachi family, with which Gavriil claimed to be related, originates from Dovgopillya on the Cheremosh River. Those who wished to complete Gavriil’s post-mortem biography have confused the Bistriţa in Transylvania with the Bystrytsya in Galicia. The family name should be just Bodoni, as his contemporaries mentioned it. In assessing the life and work of Gavriil is no longer necessary to accumulate historiographical ballast, and the activities for nationalist „recovery” is harmful.

51-54

Authors: Vasile Mărculeţ

Au début du XV-ème siècle, à une date étenu entre 1401 et avant le septembre de 1405, s'est achevé aussi le gouvernement du troisième métropolite connu de la Hungrovalachie, Anthimos. Son successeur dans le siège métropolitaine de l' Argeş a été le métropolite Jerémias, l'ancien prélat de Mitylène. Son gouvernement à la tête de l'Église de la Valachie pourait être dateé aproximativement entre avant le septembre 1405 et avant le mai 1412.

59-66

Authors: Irina Cereş

The article highlights the importance of Jewish merchants’ activity in maintaining and expanding trade relations between the Russian Empire and the Principality of Moldova at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Many of the Jews involved in the Moldavian-Russian economic relations constituted a separate privileged category in the socio-economic life of Moldavian towns. The predominance of Jews in the domestic market of Moldova was due to the fact that under the imperial decree of 1804 the Jews were granted the right to live in 15 provinces of western Russia. They held in their hands the most important branches of trade: grain, alcohol, salt etc. Despite the negative aspects of the Jewish merchants’ activities, which hampered the development of the Romanian national commercial bourgeoisie, it is undeniable that it had a positive impact on the development of local production. Through their business activities, Jewish merchants played an important role in trade relations between the Moldovan principality and the Russian Empire. Although some of the representatives of this ethnic group were involved in smuggling and other illegal activities, the Jews contributed to the introduction of joint stock companies, especially insurance companies, and contributed greatly to the spread of securities. Due to their methods of making a profit, they unwittingly helped to modernize the forms of production and trade. And it is precisely the Jews spread in the Romanian environment the practice of lending money at interest and guarantees.

79-96

Authors: Valentin Tomuleţ

In the present study, without resorting to a broad historical analysis, we consider two categories of privileged population - the mazili and ruptaşi and identify the changes in their social status and the fiscal imposition under the Tsarist rule. Analysis of unpublished archival documents allows us to conclude that mazili represented a social category and ruptaşi - a fiscal one, both of which were inherited by Bessarabia from the Principality of Moldavia For many years they were forced to make significant efforts to confirm the titles and tax and social status they had before the annexation of the region to the Russian Empire. Although mazili enjoyed certain privileges, imperial administration did not accepted them and did everything possible to suppress this social category, seeing them as a national bourgeois element (national rural bourgeoisie). Tsarism tried to promote the policy begun by Constantine Mavrocordatos, which aimed at limiting the number of privileged social groups, particularly those that did not come from the aristocracy, which, at that time, mazili and ruptaşi were part. These measures were in line with the Russian imperial policy of liquidation of local peculiarities and of social and administrative unification of the newly annexed province. Eventually the rights of mazili were limited; they were required to perform certain duties and pay taxes along with other categories. This becomes evident in the tax censuses, during which mazili and ruptaşi were required to present documents confirming their social and fiscal status. Despite this, the tsarist government used the services of mazili. Due to the special personal qualities - honesty, skills, knowledge, impeccable behavior and ability to cope with any situation, mazili were attracted to different services they were proud of, considering it their privilege. They enjoyed prestige among the local population, and in the case of riots they at the request of the authorities were able to eliminate them without bloodshed. Archival documents show that Russian imperial administration has taken concrete steps to limit the rights and privileges of mazili and ruptaşi in Bessarabia, placing them at the lower levels of the hierarchy - first in the category of odnodvortsy (single homesteaders) and later - in the category of free peasants. As a result, some of them due to lack of documents or because of any violations committed by them were transferred to the category of peasants, while others collapsed and were included in the other categories, related with the peasantry. Nevertheless, mazili continued to retain their distinctive social and spiritual features, even after their transfer to the category of odnodvortsy in 1847.

103-111

Authors: Tatiana Chicaroş

In this article we will analyze the development of the secondary education system in Bessarabia since 1833, when the first secular secondary public school was opened, until 1871, when the Russian Empire carried out a series of reforms, which affected the education system. Secondary education in Bessarabia was introduced during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I (1826-1856). The Tsar’s education policy was characterized by a number of limitations. The government intended to transform the education system into a tool to maintain and strengthen the regime. To achieve this, the tsarist government undertook some reorganization of the education system. This reorganization was aimed at the organization of schools on the basis of caste principle, raising children in a religious spirit, control over schools by the police and turning them into a means of Russification of non-Russian peoples. Under the new school statute from December 8, 1828 the continuity between parochial and county schools was eliminated, resulting in a two systems of education: primary education system, which included the county and parochial schools, and the system of secondary and higher education, which included gymnasiums and universities.

121-137

Authors: Valentin Tomuleţ

In the given article the author examines the Lancasterian System of Education established in Bessarabia on May 28, 1823 at the proposal of Count I.A. Kapodistrias. Initially, these schools were opened in Chişinău, Bălţi and Ismail, and later in Bender and Hotin. Education in them was based on a system of mutual learning. The founder of the Lancasterian System of Education was an English teacher Joseph Lancaster, who was teaching poor children without payment. The originality of this system is that its methods do not have a purely religious character; we can say that the teaching of religion was limited to reading the Bible without its interpretation. It should be noted that the mutual education system in Bessarabia was introduced at the behest of Alexander I. To maintain Lancasterian schools in Bessarabia there were spent annually 3780 assignation roubles. But the Lancasterian schools have not received much popularity among the population, and attempts to establish these schools in villages were unsuccessful. At the end of the 1840s some of them, except the Chişinău Lancasterian School, were transformed into preparatory classes of the county gymnasiums, while others merged with the new parochial schools, which started to appear in Bessarabia under the Regulation of parochial schools in 1836.

155-160

Authors: Marian Petcu

This study deals with the thorny issue of the history of our country – the Gypsy slave trade, as it was presented in the press (1837-1844). We have identified a number of advertisements that reflect the type of trade, its form, prices for slaves, and institutions involved in such transactions. All this information is presented in a variety of contexts: the writings of foreign travelers, responses of public authorities, official documents. Studied documents leave no doubt as to the intention of the authorities to assimilate the Gypsies. There is also highlighted the role of the press as an intermediary in the Gypsy slave trade. Since we are talking about semi-official publications (Cantor de Avis şi Comerţ, Vestitorul Românesc, Albina Românească), it should be understood that these transactions were carried out with the consent of the heads of the relevant state entities. The study also highlights the stages of freeing the slaves.

169-172

Authors: Liviu Papuc

As is well known, most of the large library of Paul Gore, nearly 5,000 volumes, as evidenced by preserved inventory list, is currently kept in the “M. Eminescu” Central University Library in Iaşi. Based on dozens of specimens found in the storages and on the notes made by Paul Gore in the inventory-catalog, the paper presents their bibliographic description. It is made in the continuation of a communication that is to be printed in the Magazine of the Museum of the “Al.I. Cuza” University of Iaşi and in order to complete a full catalog of the library of the great scientist, the work on which was begun with great success by other researchers in the field.

183-198

Authors: Mihail Iliev

After the First World War, in addition to the numerous human and material losses suffered, Romania registered over 360.000 orphans of war. In Bessarabia, 24,142 children remained without one or both parents. Providing for their care and education proved to be a difficult task for the national institutions and charity societies. Among the most influential non-governmental organizations of the time that assumed the noble mission of guardianship these orphans, was the Society for the Protection of War Orphans. This study analyzes the evolution of the Chişinău Regional Committee of the Society for the Protection of War Orphans in the first six years of activity.

213-222

Authors: Sergiu Tabuncic

The 1941 census is an important source for studying the history of the settlements from the present-time districts of Soldanesti and Rezina in the Republic of Moldova. In 1941, those localities were part of Bessarabia’s Orhei County. The materials of that census are stored at the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova, the fund No 2069, inventory 1, part 1, file 450-a. Villages Census 1941 – this is the title of the questionnaire used to collect data. The census was conducted under the auspices of the Central Institute of Statistics subordinate to the Council of Ministers of Romania. The census questionnaire contained 28 sections, each containing questions aimed to clarify the status of settlements in terms of administrative, social, economic, ethnographic, cultural, medical and religious aspects. Many questions pertained to the duration and continuity of the population’s residing in villages listed in the census and villages’ foundation years, to description of rural settlements, permanent and temporary dwellings. Also, the census results show some elements of relations between Romanians and Roma people. The 1941 census is the most significant and representative component of local history, substantially enriching the sources of this domain of research.

237-245

Authors: Cristina Tănase

In the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, on the front stretched from Finland to the Black Sea, there were involved more than three million German soldiers and about 500,000 Romanian, Slovak, Finnish, Hungarian and Italian soldiers and the French and Spanish “volunteers”. The 3rd Romanian army under the command of General Petre Dumitrescu, which consisted of the Mountain Corps and the Cavalry Corps, covered the border from Bukovina to Cârlibaba. The 2nd Mountain Division led by General Ion Dumitrache was acting on the border with Bucovina, between Rădăuți and Suceava, and had the main attack vector Novoselytsia – Hotin. Three weeks after crossing the Prut River, the 2nd Mountain Division crossed the Dniester moving to the east-southeast. On August 17, 1941 the troops which were under General Dumitrache’s command reached the right bank of the Bug River. This study is based on the collection of documents of General Ion Dumitrache stored in the archive of the Brasov County Museum of History and formed on the basis of materials donated to the museum by the Dumitrache family from 1984 to 1999.

257-270

Authors: Yuri Pyatnitsky

The article is focusing on a small metal medallion engraved with the scene “Descent into Hell” and the Greek inscription from the Hermitage Museum collection. This item has been published several times by Hermitage researcher Vera Zalessk as “lid from a piksidy brought by a pilgrim from Jerusalem, which could also be used as a matrix for making Eulogy copies”. This fantastic interpretation was repeated in several publications; she also wanted to publish it again in the catalog of the exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Academician Nikolai Likhachev. The later prompted me to write in 2011 a special article with another interpretation of this object and two other similar ones. Studying Greek documents in the Archives of Ancient Acts in Moscow, I noticed that the stamps from the documents issued by the Jerusalem Patriarchate are extremely similar to the object from Hermitage Museum by the typology, iconography and inscriptions. Continuing research in this direction, I found strong arguments for the identification of this object as a stamp of the Jerusalem Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre Temple of the 17th century. Comparison with the document of the first quarter of the 17th century by Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophanes, made us believe that manufacturing of this stamp was commissioned in Constantinople by the patriarch before his trip to Russia to appoint the Moscow Patriarch Filaret Nikitich, father of Tsar Mikhail Romanov. The time it was made may be considered as in the first quarter of 17th century through analogy with the personal seal of Patriarch Theophanes.

283-288

Authors: Andrei Emilciuc

The book collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova includes a number of dictionaries and encyclopedias of a certain historical and cultural value, which were published in reputable printing houses of Western Europe. They have become a social phenomenon in the 18th and 19th centuries, appearing in dozens of editions and contributing significantly to the popularization of science and knowledge of languages among the population. These books are valuable also in terms of their design: leather bindings decorated with relief ornaments and inscriptions, gold stamping on the spines and gilded page edges, color lithographs and engravings, and other classic decorative elements. The article attempts to review the museum collection of such encyclopedias and dictionaries from the perspective of the history of book publishing in Western Europe in the 18th and 19th century.

299-304

Authors: Sergiu Dobrea

On May 18, 2013 at the National Museum of History of Moldova there was opened the exhibition “Arms and Military Equipment: the Evolution in Time” based on pieces from the museum’s collections. The exhibition offers the public a complete typological range of weapons from ancient times to the present (its chronology covers about 4 millennia). Most of the 788 museum pieces are presented for the first time. The exhibition is complemented with two models of medieval knights in armor, specimens of military equipment of the 18th - 19th centuries, pieces of military uniforms of the 19th - 20th centuries, paintings, etchings, and photographs depicting soldiers and battle scenes.

317-321

Authors: Ecaterina Bondarenco

The subject of this article is the restoration of objects from the Clothing and Accessories Collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova. The collection, which began to form from the first years of the museum’s existence, is diverse in terms of typology and chronology. Among its components the sub-collection of military uniform and accessories, containing 300 headwear items, occupies a special place. By country of origin these military headwear items originate from Russia, Prussia, France, Italy, Romania, Poland, Hungary, etc. In 2010, there were restored 30 headwear items, including: grenadier cap, Prussia, 1740-1785; Cavalry Guards officer’s helmet, Russia, 1811- 1817; Uhlan officer’s cap, Russia, 1837; infantry officer’s helmet, Prussia, 1914-1918; artillery officer’s cap, France, 1914-1918; sub-lieutenant’s cap, model 1934, Romania. The author analyzes the restoration techniques used in the process of working on some items from the collections of the National Museum of History of Moldova.

339-348

Authors: Adelaida Chiroşca

In the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova there are six icons related to the famous iconographic type "Protection of the Holy Virgin". This type, that was designed to reflect the images of the feast of the Holy Virgin, has a complex composition, which harmoniously combines events, phenomena and characters belonging to different time periods. At the heart of it lies the vision of Andrew the Fool-for-Christ in the Blachernae church of Constantinople. The plot of the icons also recalls the miraculous phenomenon that became known as the Miracle of Blachernae. At the same time, this iconographic composition may be an illustration of the cycle of hymns, which conceptually transmits the idea of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The composition of icons of the Protection consists of the upper and lower parts. The upper part shows the Virgin standing on clouds with the veil symbolizing the protection in her hands, surrounded by saints, the holy prophets and the Myrrh-bearers. In the center of the lower part there is depicted Romanos the Melodist, on the right of him there are the emperors and men of Church; on the left St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ is depicted, turning to his disciple Epiphanius and pointing up at the miracle that takes place in the temple. On some icons in the lower part there is depicted the dream of Romanos the Melodist, in which Our Lady gives him a scroll, blessing him to sing and write hymns. There are icons depicting only the Virgin. Five of the six icons from the collection of NMHM are of average size, and one is larger, probably derived from a church dedicated to the feast. These icons are painted in oil and tempera on wood, composition of most of them corresponds exactly to this iconographic type.

357-363

Authors: Lucia Marinescu-Tonu

Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences in Rio de Janeiro (MAST) was opened in 1985 and is now one of the most popular institutions of this type in Brazil. It stores artifacts related to the Brazilian science and technology. Exhibitions organized by MAST represent a dialogue between astronomy, history, philosophy, and science transposed into museum space through various museum technologies. Currently, the museum is under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and develops its activities in three main areas: the history of science, museology and heritage, science and education. This is a scientifi c cultural institution, which by its intrinsic elements has a dual purpose: scientific and educational. Visiting the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences in Rio de Janeiro, we have found both similarities and differences in approach to the museum organization and public activities. As a general observation, we can say that the quintessence of the activities of MAST is the interaction with visitors, opening of the scientific community in the fi elds of astronomy and related sciences to society.