Follow a photo archive of 20th-century Moldovan life on Instagram
Image: Moldova’s National Archive Fund
25 August 2021
Text:
Paula Erizanu
Familiarise yourself with a century of Moldovan daily life with @arhiva.gov.md, the Instagram account run by the country’s National Archive Agency Fund, a government body responsible for preserving the country’s records.
The photo archive goes all the way back to interwar life, when Moldova was part of the Kingdom of Romania. The National Archive Agency Fund launched their Instagram in November 2020 to promote its rich photography collection.
The photos showcased on Instagram are largely from the postwar Soviet era, and offer a window into collective farming in the 50s and 60s. Thanks to its rich soils and temperate climate, Moldova was one of the USSR’s main producers of wine, fruits, and vegetables, alongside Ukraine and Georgia.
The account also features pictures of various sectors of Soviet-era industry, which have largely collapsed since the 90s.
This extraordinary collection provides glimpses into daily cultural life, from traditional village dances and feasts, to amateur theatre shows of the 50s and professional choreography performances of the 80s.
