A quick history of cabinets of curiosities

Learn how cabinets of curiosities came about and their connection to today’s museums. For more resources about museums, follow these Amazon affiliate links:
Cabinet of Curiosities: Collecting and Understanding the Wonders of the Natural World
Cabinets of Curiosities
Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions
The Origins of Museums: The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe

Watch the Hartiverse video about cabinets of curiosities here: https://youtu.be/OLntgCveXD8

Did you know that there is a shared history between museums and cabinets of curiosities? Let’s dive in and see.

A museum is an institution that houses and protects artifacts that possess scientific, artistic, or historical importance. Museums are generally open to the public through exhibitions that may be permanent or temporary. Many large and famous museums are located in cities throughout the world, with smaller museums located in smaller cities and towns.

Museums have a long history among advanced civilizations. A famous example was the Museum of Alexandria, which was constructed in Ptolemaic Egypt. In the western world, museums began as private artifact collections amassed by very wealthy individuals, families, and institutions. As technology improves, many museums are creating high-resolution virtual exhibitions that can be accessed online. But what happened to cabinets of curiosities? The words may bring to mind “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” but that’s far from what true cabinets of curiosities represent.

Cabinets of curiosities are the precursor to the modern museum collection. Also known as Wunderkammers, a word meaning “wonder rooms,” they were a private collection of objects assembled by wealthy collectors. The cabinet of curiosities first made its appearance in the 16th century and persisted into the 19th century. The cabinet of curiosities brought together bizarre objects that often defied contemporary classification. Objects that were collected included physical fragments of natural history, archeological artifacts, odd paintings, and antiquities. Many would be considered “out-of-place artifacts,” which some museums house even today.

Ferdinand the 2nd, Archduke of Austria, had a cabinet of curiosities which placed special emphasis on paintings of people with deformities. This collection can still be seen in the Chamber of Art and Curiosities at Ambras Castle, Austria. Unusual objects such as shells, stuffed mammals, antique maps, triple picture frames and objects from antiquity were also collected and stored in various cabinets of curiosities.

Museums as public bastions of culture did not come into existence until the Age of Enlightenment. The Vatican in Rome opened the first two public museums: the Capitoline Museum and the Vatican Museum. Museums devoted to collecting and exhibiting art have become an essential institution in major cities. Art museums store and protect paintings, illustrations, sculptures, drawings, metalwork, furniture, and so on. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which opened on the 24th of May, 1683, was the world’s first university art museum. It was built to house the cabinet of curiosities of the politician Elias Ashmole. Ashmole was an antiquary who collected curiosities such as triple picture frames, curious “objets d’art,” and geological fragments.

Next time you visit a museum, ask a docent if they have a cabinet of curiosities or a display of out-of-place artifacts. You may be amazed what you’ll find.

If you enjoyed this quick presentation, please give it a like and subscribe to the channel. Thanks and see you next time!