Mihai Ursu:
Moldovan Museums in the Process of Transition
The Republic of Moldova is one of the youngest states that appeared on the map of
Europe after the breakup of the USSR. It occupies a small territory in southeastern
Europe, which during the last two centuries was known as either Basarabia, a
constituent part of the Russian Empire and Romania, or the MSSR, as a political
administrative unit of the Soviet Union, or the Republic of Moldova, when it became
an independent country in 1991.
The history of museography on the aforementioned territory started at the beginning
of the 19th century when the first collections of books and antiques were attested. The
first private museums appeared later. The first attempt to organize a public museum
was made in 1837, when an agricultural and industrial exposition took place in
Chişinău. However, in spite of the fact that there was selected a collection of exhibits
enough to open a museum, the original objective was not accomplished. The first
public museum in Basarabia appeared in 1889. It was called the Museum of
Agriculture, Zoology and Handicrafts, known at present as the National Museum of
Ethnography and Natural History, which I am honored to represent at this conference.
This museum became the basis for further development of museography in the region,
its collections becoming a starting point for the organization of many other museums
and expositions. On the eve of World War I, there existed five museums in Basarabia.
Right before the beginning of World War II, the number of museums in the country
reached ten.
During the interwar period, from 1918 to 1940, the museography of Basarabia was
developing as a constituent part of Romanian museography. The major goal in that
period was the formation of the conscience of Romanian identity of those Basarabians
who felt certain cultural estrangement from their Romanian roots. A particular
attention at that time was paid to the scientific research and the collection of the
national heritage. In 1944, Basarabian museography continued its development within
the framework of the USSR.
The available materials that reflect the development of museography in Soviet times
demonstrate that the Communist ideology of the Soviet regime had a significant
impact on the museums of the country. Public museums became an important
ideological instrument of the cultural policy of the Soviet state. All the activities of
museums were carried out in conformity with different directives and programs
elaborated by the central organs of the Communist Party from Moscow and by the
republican party organs. The most important decisions related to the instructiveeducational activities of museums were made, as a rule, at the plenary sessions of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
The activities of museums were centralized and coordinated by the state. The
meticulous planning of the process of the establishment of new museums existed.
In the 1950s, the first district museums appeared. However, most of the museums of
the republic were founded in the 1960s and the 1970s. The considerable growth of the
number of museums led to the formation of a museum network in the republic, the
stereotypical network that was strongly affected by Communist ideology and served
as a tool of propaganda of that ideology.
During the 1980s, the network of rural museums became a reality. The majority of
them did not have permanent exhibitions available for the public. Their collections
were small. Those museums were not the institutions that had a burden of carrying out
constant scientific research or instructive-educational activities seriously influenced
by the political realities of that time.
Most of those museums were located in the churches that were closed for religion
services by the Soviet regime. The dislocation of rural museums in churches was a
cultural policy of the Soviet state, which was promoted insistently for many decades.
However, while converting rural museums into churches, church buildings were kept,
most of which being the monuments of architecture and history of the past centuries.
The transformation of churches into museums saved their premises from being
destroyed.
During the 1980s, a number of specialized museums appeared in the republic
including the Pedagogical Museum, the Museum of Literature, the Museum of
Natural Sciences, and the Museum of Theater. That quantitative growth of museums
led to the creation of certain state structures that coordinated their activities. However,
along with this, no non-state association, society, or union of museographers existed
at that time.
Being a constituent part of the Soviet Union, our republic did not have the National
Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Not a single specialized
museum journal was published in the republic. Only the museums of republican
subordination were able to receive from Moscow the Soviet Museum journal and the
quarterly Museum, published by UNESCO. The training of museum personnel was
conducted only in the central museums located in Chişinău. The institutions of higher
education did not offer any museology courses. All museographers had only one
function as a scientific collaborator, which remains even today although it does not
adequately reflect the content of museum activities.
The activities of museums at that time were carries out in conformity with the
directives and decisions of the Communist Party and the normative acts and
instructions approved by the Ministry of Culture. The Law on Museums did not exist.
The situation started to change only with the beginning of Gorbachev’s perestroika.
At the end of the 1980s, Moldovan museography underwent serious changes. National
renaissance in the republic and the democratization of the society and public life led
to the liquidation of politically oriented museums. The process of the reorganization
of museum institutions started, which involved the reconstruction of the whole
museum network and the thematic reformation of the permanent exhibitions of
museums. On November 30th, 1989, the Council of the Ministry of Culture adopted a
decision on the restructuring of museum activities in the MSSR. That document stated
that during the late 1980s the museums of the republic reoriented their activities
following the social and political development and the democratization of the society.
However, it was underlined that inadequate attention was given in the museums to the
national culture and history, that the museums were not ready to operate in new
conditions and that the professionalism of museographers did not correspond to the
needs of the contemporary society. It was mentioned that 50 percent of all the
premises of museums required capital reparations and experienced lack of technical
and material basis for the conservation and restoration of museum collections. It was
also specified that in our museography did not exist the priorities for further museum
development and museum policy. The Council of the Ministry of Culture decided to
elaborate the concept of the development of museography in the republic and to
assure the annual publication of the Museum Bulletin.
The period following the year 1990 was very difficult for all the museums of the
republic, which was determined by economic instability. And, nevertheless, in that
period of transition, some serious changes in the orientation of museum activities took
place. In the cultural environment of the country, certain personalities appeared who
tried to reorient the activities of the museums into a new direction.
The museum network underwent through a new step of development expressed both
in the organization and the reorganization of some museums as well as the
actualization of the thematic content of the museums of history and ethnography. That
development was also expressed in the collection of materials that reflected the
national history, the material and the spiritual life of Moldovans, in the new methods
of research and evaluation of museum collections. After gaining its independence,
Moldova underwent serious democratic changes, which had a significant impact on
the development of national museography. As a result of the reorganization and the
liquidation of many politically oriented museums, the number of museums in the
country decreased as well as did the number of their visitors.
At present, 72 museums of history, ethnography, natural sciences, archeology, fine
arts and memorials exist in the Republic of Moldova. They are subordinated to the
Ministry of Culture and the local organs of public administration. Besides, a number
of museums subordinated to the Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Education,
Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defense, Creative Unions and other institutions
and organizations exist, which host the collections of particular significance for the
national and universal cultures. Based on the value of collections and the
subordination of museums, the latter are subdivided into many different categories –
national, district, urban, rural, and special thematic museums. The collections of the
museums of the republic contain more than 700 thousand units.
By the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, the juridical basis necessary for museum
activity has been created. The Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Law on
Culture, the Law on Museums have been adopted. Concrete actions have been
elaborated and implemented to save the premises and the collections of museums.
Those measures have created the favorable conditions for the development of
museums in the country.
During the last several years, the museums have paid a particular attention to
scientific research, the study of museum collections for their subsequent use for
scientific and cultural purposes.
The reorientation and the reorganization of the museum network and the renovation of
permanent exhibitions are taking place in the museography of Moldova at present.
Museographic activities have been oriented towards the research and the buildup of
the national museum patrimony for the study of museum collections through scientific
seminars and symposia and for the collaboration with different foreign museums. The
museums of Moldova have established good relations with the museums of Romania,
France, Belgium, Germany, USA, etc. Joint expositions and symposia have been
organized. Many Moldovan museographers have interned in the aforementioned
countries.
The generators and the promoters of the new concepts and views on the process of the
development of the national museography have been the National Museum of
Ethnography and Natural History and the National Museum of the History of
Moldova. A number of museums and new expositions have been organized in the
republic. The priority programs of the research and study of museum collections have
been promoted and implemented in the activities of museums. These actions have
allowed in recent years to reach new indices in museum activity such as the increase
of the number of museum visitors, the constant augmentation of museum collections,
and the appearance of new scientific publications.
In 1994, the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History inaugurated a new
permanent exposition entitled “Nature. Man. Culture”, devoted to contemporary
environmental problems, the interaction between man and nature. This exposition
promotes general human values and calls for the unity of mankind for the salvation of
nature and human culture, and the planet we live on. With this exposition, the
museum participated in the final round of the European Museum of the Year 1998
Award competition. That was the first time when a Moldovan museum participated in
the manifestation of European museography.
The scientific publications of the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural
History, the National Museum of History, the catalogues of the National Art Museum,
the museums of Soroca, Ungheni, etc. constitute the excellent logistic support for the
museums of the republic. The Informational Center founded by the initiative of the
Ministry of Culture and the National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History
has a particular importance for the process of professional informing of the
museographers of the republic. One of its major objectives is to create a national
database of the collections of Moldovan museums. Electronic accounting systems
have been implemented in national museums. The Internet web page entitled the
Museums of Moldova was created and launched with the financial support of the
Soros Foundation in Moldova. The site contains the appropriate promotional materials
provided by the museums. The UNDP Office in Moldova provided significant
assistance to republican museums by initiating the implementation of the Program of
Sustainable Development of Tourism. The Association of Museographers and the
National Committee of ICOM have been created in Moldova. The Muzeion
Association of Museographers has been recently established.
All the aforementioned facts demonstrate that the favorable changes for the
development of museums and museography, for our successful integration in the
process of the development of the European Community have taken place in the
Republic of Moldova.
More detailed information about the museums of the Republic of Moldova is
available on the Internet at www.muzee.art.md.