Telecommunications mosaic – Chișinău – Moldova

This is a relatively small mosaic which is on the side wall of the building that is now the HQ of Moldtelecom but which, during Soviet times, was the home of the Ministry of Communications for the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic and the Central Post Office.

The theme of the image is unity and connectivity – not just local but international. In the background you have the globe superimposed upon which is a jet liner and a couple of dial telephones.

Behind the telephones is a hand and this suggests the idea of hands around the world, a term which would have been more in use when the mosaic was created than it is, perhaps now, in the 21st century. This unity/connectivity also has reference to the international aspect of Soviet Socialism. And that ‘movement’ of connectivity is displayed by the horizontal lines which indicate a spinning, dynamic world.

The top, left hand corner is dominated by an image of a communications satellite, which would have represented cutting edge technology at the time.

There’s no reference to postal services with, for example, an image of an envelope, which is slightly surprising as the building was also the Central Post Office when the mosaic was created. This would seem to indicate that the remit was to represent ‘modern’ technology – which in 1967 would have meant telecommunications, with the new satellites but primarily via cable.

One thing this mosaic – which doesn’t effect in the same way most of the other mosaics in the country – demonstrates is the ‘sell by date’ of technology. Many of the younger (and perhaps the not so younger) people who pass by this mosaic wouldn’t have a clue what the little boxy items with a circle with dots are in the image – unless they had happened to have noticed them during a visit to a museum.

Although on a busy road this mosaic is one that is easy to miss. During the working day the hustle and bustle of the market would distract as some of the more informal, ‘goods laid out on a tarmac on the ground’ type of market stalls are immediately in front and below of the image.