Tyragetia

9-28

Authors: Andrei Emilciuc

Our interest in the subject in question is a first step in developing of a catalog of Western European books from the collection of NMAHM in the pre-WWI period. The presence of a rich Western European book fund is an important sign of the level of integration of the population of Bessarabia in European culture and science in the process of Russification and transformation of the province into a Russian gubernia, it reflects the evolution of collective mentality, especially of the nobility and the intelligentsia. That is why the control over the importation of foreign publications was an important function of Russian censorship throughout the nineteenth century. Based on researched documents we can say that during the covered period, in the Russian Empire the circulation of foreign books was a subject of a strict legislative control. In the control of circulation of foreign books in the Russian Empire, besides the censorship organs, an important role was given to customs institutions and legislation, which regulated the access points for books from abroad, and import duties. This control aimed at several objectives, in addition to that primary to limit the spread of liberal ideas, which could weaken the social, political and national basis of the state. The study of legislation on censorship, allows us to ascertain that for almost a century, between 1828-1917, foreign censorship methods and specific activity remained virtually unchanged. Up to its liquidation in 1917, it remained one of the most conservative organs of the state apparatus, even though the increasing number of foreign books that were reaching the Russian market strained on more and more, year by year, the resources of the committee of foreign censorship, not only through the work of censorship, but also that of preparation of numerous reports and correspondence. Analyzing the Russian government censorship policy we came to the conclusion that it reflects the dual attitude of Russian autocracy on everything that was foreign. It sought to keep up with Western civilization, but at the same time, it was afraid of progressive ideas.

53-62

Authors: Lilia Zabolotnaia

The article focusing on Asăneşti Dynasty history through the prism of women's role in ascending to the throne. Presenting particular and general features in the history Bulgaria's medieval monarchs, I wanted to draw attention on an issue of great importance in European history. “Female factor” played a decisive role in preserving dynastic right to the throne. On the one hand, Bulgaria was no exception; women could also inherit the throne. On the other hand, appear new forms which are less specific for other countries. The research has shown that even if women had no right to the throne or the right to power, they were the “rescue link” of the reigning dynasty, and were “the rescue weapon” for men conquering the throne. Kinship with a representative of the ruling dynasty was the main argument of the political realities and requirements of that time. Exception was only marrying a widow. It has become one of the main methods and widely practiced in Bulgaria. For example, such cases are missing in medieval Moldova, moreover such things were not allowed. Widow status and situation changes radically, as she is being chased or even assassinated. There is no possibility to ascent to the throne through marriage with a widow. In some cases the mothers ensured the power to their children, but female regency was widely practiced and known, without exception, in all European countries.

77-80

Authors: Eugenia Martea

The article refutes the existing in historiography opinion that the first documentary mention of the village of Gura Galbenei refers to 1672. The presented evidences prove that this date is wrong. Our studies allow us to establish that the village of Gura Galbenei is documentary mentioned for the first time only in 1795.

95-108

Authors: Tatevik Sargsyan

The article uses a rather large number of sources concerning Armenian resettlement center in Kiliya (Danube Delta, in the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak). Most of them are presented by Armenian epitaphs, in total twelve ones, dated to 1646-1765 years. Twelve tombstones, carrying them, were located inside the church of St. Nicholas in Kiliya and possibly in its environment as well. Five of them, together with epitaphs are preserved to our times: three in the church garden and two in the Kiliya museum. Three of these five tombstones were discovered recently, and their epitaphs are new-found sources. Two others had been published earlier. The remaining seven tombstones and there epitaphs are known only from various publications. The analysis of these twelve epitaphs reveals that the persons, mentioned in them, in their vast majority were the representatives of the second or third generation of the Armenians, who migrated here from various places of Historical Armenia, and even, perhaps, from Persia in the early decades of the XVII century. So they had no relation to the old Armenian inhabitants of Kiliya, settled here earlier – in the course of the XI-XV centuries. The sources come to prove that the last ones had a church of St. Virgin (now the location is unknown), which existed up to the very beginning of the XIX century. So we have to admit that the newly arrived Armenians made burials in the church of St. Nicholas and round it right after its construction in 1648 by the Moldavian ruler Vasile Lupu and, presumably, until their leaving for Grigoriopol in 1792. The epitaph dated 1646 suggests a burial made even during the construction of the church. The said indicates a direct relation of the last to the newly arrived Armenians and finds confirmation in N. Kleeman’s information (the 60-s of the XVIII century) that the Armenians had two churches in Kiliya.

121-128

Authors: Dinu Poştarencu

The article presents some data about the tendency to appoint district police officers not of local origin, which was exhibited by the Russian imperial authorities in the first years after the annexation of Bessarabia. These appointees were not aware of any local customs or the Romanian language, which worsened the relations between them and the appropriate Romanian officials and limited opportunities for contact with the local population.

137-147

Authors: Nicolae Fuştei

During the Russian-Turkish War (1806-1812), by the decree of Emperor Alexander I on March 27, 1808, the Exarchate of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia was formed. The former Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni was appointed the head of the new church administrative-territorial unit. Exarch Gavriil Banulescu-Bodoni paid particular attention to the establishing of balanced relations between the church and civil authorities, taking into account some negative phenomena in society and the church. In order to establish such relationship, as well as to improve the situation of the clergy in the principalities, Metropolitan Gavriil undertook a series of measures, including: – trying to exclude interference of civil authorities in the affairs of the church; – the fight against abuses by the Russian military; – reducing the number of priests. The present study is dedicated to the analysis of these aspects of the Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni’s activity at the Exarchate in 1806-1812.

159-173

Authors: Alina Felea

A study of the problem of divorce in the 19th century is no less important than research of other issues in the field of marriage and family, because this act influenced the position of ex-spouses, especially women in society. A limited number of grounds for divorce, as well as the social foundation and moral principles of the 19th century made a divorce very difficult and controversial issue. The issues of divorce in the history of Moldova and Wallachia during the 19th century were examined in works by V. Barbu, S. Solcan, C. Ghiţulescu, M.M. Szekely, L. Zabolotnaia, S. Bolovan, I. Bolovan, and M. Brie. Their studies indicate that the Orthodox Church allowed the dissolution of marriage in certain cases, such as adultery, inappropriate behavior, battering and threat to life, expulsion of the wife out of home, taking the monastic vows, heresy, proxenetism, lesbianism, pedophilia, etc. However, until now there were not published any works on the history of marital divorce in Bessarabia after 1812, when it became a part of the Russian Empire. This article provides specific examples of how the church rules on divorce were respected in the first half of the 19th century. As research sources there were used documents from the State Archives of the Republic of Moldova, namely from the files of the Chişinău Theological Consistory and the Civil Court of Bessarabia, which addressed such matters. The reasons for divorce in Bessarabia in the first half of the 19th century were a violation of church rules concerning marriage, monasticism, attempt on the spouse’s life, adultery and some others. At the same time, the ecclesiastical authorities usually tried to prevent divorce, doing everything possible to preserve the family.

193-202

Authors: Maria Danilov

The study of private libraries of Bessarabia of the first half of the 19th century is limited to the paucity of sources. Reconstruction is often based on indirect sources, which, however, give us hope for new discoveries. The nobleman Costache Tufescu (1793-1846), settled in Bessarabia in first years after annexation, was considered by Gheorghe Bezviconi the “first researcher of genealogy of Bessarabian noble families”. Costache Tufesku was a contemporary of Costache Stamati, Al. Hâjdău, Ange Balli, Alecu Leonard, Ioan Pralea Moldovanul. In this context, we can say that among the Bessarabian nobility there was a certain cultural environment, which was favorable for the creation of spiritual values and the formation of private libraries. It can be argued that Tufescu maintained constant relations with Iasi. His brother-in-law, Dumitrache Bran, who was a member of the Divan, often visited him. Constantin Tufescu’s rich archive has been preserved and later became the property of Ştefan Ciobanu, who posted this fact in the press in the interwar period. It was Ştefan Ciobanu, who had first published in 1933 unique data on the Catalogue of Costache Tufescu’s library. All the researchers, who wrote later about this library, relied on scanty data provided by Ştefan Ciobanu, and the history of this book collection is still unexplored.

213-234

Authors: Valentin Tomuleţ, Victoria Bivol

In the given article, based on the published monographic literature and unpublished archival sources, the authors make a brief description of the concept of the elite and by the examining the Armenian and Greek wholesale merchants raise the issue of the commercial elite of Bessarabia, which was formed shortly after its annexation to the Russian Empire in 1812. The authors state that the genesis and evolution of Bessarabian bourgeoisie in general, and the commercial-industrial in particular, was influenced by multiple factors, both economic and political, both internal and external. A special place in this respect belongs to the immigration of alien merchants to Bessarabia – Armenians, Greek, Jews, Bulgarians, and those from the interior provinces of Russia, many of whom settled in the province for permanent residence, filling the ranks of the commercial bourgeoisie of Bessarabia as a consequence of national-commercial policy promoted by the imperial government in the newly annexed territory. Based on the example of Armenian merchants, but also on the history of Panteleimon Sinadino – the Greek merchant of the first guild from Chisinau, whose commercial capital reached in the 1830-ies the value of 2 million rubles, the authors analyze the process of establishment of commercial bourgeoisie in Bessarabia.

243-252

Authors: Manole Brihuneţ

In this article the author examines the main stages of development of the historiography of the tsarist and the interwar times concerned the study of religious architecture, necropolises and funerary complexes of the Dniester-Prut interfluves. Research, analysis and review of the main publications on the topic greatly expanded the opportunity for its further study.

265-271

Authors: Ana Griţco

Cultural and historical heritage of Chişinău consists of the monuments of history and art. Many of them took the form of an illustrated postcard that has become an important source of information, and author of the picture became a “field” correspondent, who transmitted the public authentic images. Such are the three photographic postcards from the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova with the image of the building of the Hârbovăţ Community of Nurses in Chişinău, located at the intersection of Sinadinovskaya and Fontannaya streets (now Vlaicu Pârcălab and Veronica Micle). The earliest of them was released before 1917 by the G. Sheinberg’s Book and Stationery Store in Chişinău; the other two date from the interwar period, bear the same image and differ only in the inscriptions. This paper is a continuation of the deltiological study of museum collections and addresses the history of the building, as well as the activities of the Community.

285-291

Authors: Adelaida Chiroşca

The name of Irenaeus Protcenco (1888-1953), whose icons were in great demand in the interwar period and whose mural painting once adorned famous churches and chapels of Bessarabia, the Ukraine, and Romania, are now little known. The famous icon painter created his works in great love for God. Although he did not sign his icons, they can be unmistakably recognized through the unique style. Born in Ukraine in a noble family and named Ioan, he graduated from the Kiev Academy of Fine Arts and his graduate work was painting of the Suruceni monastery (1907-1909). Later he worked in Chişinău, where he became great religious painter, the author of highly artistic miniatures, engravings with enamel, and icons for iconostases. The last years of his life he spent in Romania, at the Sihăstria Monastery, where he created probably the most beautiful and significant of his works. Here he died in the summer of 1953, three days after the adoption of the monastic vows under the name of Irenaeus. Those who know his works suggest that the most beautiful icons created by this great painter are dedicated to the Virgin. Of these the most significant are “Axion Estin”, “Prodromiţa”, and “Sweet Kiss”. But the most valuable icon of the painter is “Our Lady of Sorrows” from the chapel of Sts. Joachim and Anna at Sihăstria. In the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova there is kept a similar icon painted by Irenaeus Protcenco. It recalls the endless grief of the Mother about Her Son crucified on the cross.

305-320

Authors: Angela Lisnic

This study examines restrictions on publications, which existed during 1960-70s in MSSR. It is based on previously unpublished materials from the National Archives of the Republic of Moldova, Fund 3902, General Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets and the Press attached to the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR. The research purpose is to highlight the „errors”, which were „discovered” in these publications. It also aims to analyze the reasons, which could undermine the socialist state ideology. The study traces the circumstances of these restrictions and persons who were involved in these cases.

335-345

Authors: Liliana Condraticova

Preceding studies on the origin and evolution of jewelry in Moldova have considerably expanded the area of our research, opening up new possibilities for the investigation. The aim of this study is to show the place and role of artistic metalworking techniques in Bessarabia of the 19th century, characterization and determination of the types of objects created using these techniques, and giving some examples, which illustrate them. It should be noted that the discovery of physical and chemical properties of metals led to the emergence and development of methods of artistic processing of metals, which have evolved over the centuries. Some of them were eventually rarely used and were replaced by complicated professional technologies. Among the most claimed and, therefore, popular methods of metal processing one can name such techniques as casting, engraving, filigree, forging, artistic enameling, etc.

359-364

Authors: Olga Shchipakina

The subject of this paper is a study of posters from the collections of NMAHM. There were selected and studied about 100 objects belonging to the time of the Civil War (1918-1920) and the interwar period (1922-1939). Among the authors of these posters there are the renowned artists A. Apsit, V. Deni, and D. Moor. Most of the posters are originals that illustrate a series of events of the time. By content they can be categorized by the criteria of themes and types. Thus, in terms of types the posters can be divided into political, military, economic, and educational. In terms of themes they can be divided into four categories. Posters in the first category reflect activity of the Communist party, the struggle for Soviet power, the alliance of peasants and workers. The second category includes the posters on activity of the Red Army, the fight against foreign intervention, the fight against desertion. The third category combines the posters on agriculture, collectivization, and the fight against hunger. The last category includes the posters on public education. In conclusion of the research of this part of the collections of NMAHM, it should be stated that posters are of particular importance for the study of the period of 1918-1939.

387-391

Authors: Gheorghe Pisica

As one of the largest museums in the world, the Hermitage is a model, which many museums seek to meet. The mere visit to this museum of an area of more than 183,820 m2, where only the exhibition occupies about 66,842 m2, produces a profound impression. The museum internship at the Hermitage was all the more impressive experience. Its duration was 2 months (July 11 - September 9, 2011), during which we worked in the Hermitage Volunteer Service. The main activities during this period were: welcoming visitors and helping the administrators in the relaxation areas of the museum, work on the inventory and digitization of archaeological collection in the Department of Antiquities and Archaeology, participation in the cultural and educational project WHY – World Heritage & Youth. Along with the core activities, we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the restoration and conservation work in the Restoration and Storage Center “Staraya Derevnya” of the State Hermitage Museum, as well as in other complexes of palaces and parks.

397-407

Authors: Elena Ploşniţă

The article deals with problems of the development of museums in the Republic of Moldova. Based on an analysis of activity and resource potential of museums in the country, it outlines possible strategies and directions of development of the museum network. As a result of the analysis the author identified the main problems in the field: a poor infrastructure, lack of space for the implementation and development of the main types of museum work, the lack of acquisitions, obsolete exhibitions in many museums, insufficient funding in the security of museum collections, etc. To solve these problems it is proposed a range of measures to be included in the museums’ development strategy: a conceptual reform of the museum network, the formation of an exhibition policy, computerization of the museum network, development of a concept of acquisitions for museum collections, museumification of individual sites, an approach to the museum as to a cultural component of the tourism, etc. Finally, the author gives the expected results of implementing the proposed strategy. This article is intended for professionals in the field of museum work.