The 'cabinet of curiosities' or 'wonder room' (wunderkammer) originated in the 16th century Europe as science and exploration created a wide variety of new and exotic objects and natural history specimens. Collections would range in size from a small cabinet to vast chambers covered from floor to ceiling in exhibits. The cabinets often contained forged or unknown specimens from ships returning to Europe from distant and unexplored parts of the world, which added to their intrigue, a glimpse into the world of the unknown and exotic.
Albertus Seba a dutch zoologist and pharmacist collected and illustrated hundreds of wunderkammer specimens, Taschen has released reproductions of his life's work in the beautifully illustrated book
Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. In 1716 Peter the Great purchased Seba's entire collection of specimens along with other vast collections to exhibit in the
Kunstkamera in St Petersburgh, the largest wunderkammer in existence featuring over 2,000,000 exhibits. The Czar had a particular interest in deformed animals and human fetuses, and even issued a decree that all malformed and still born fetuses from all over Russia be sent to the Kunstkamera.
The Kunstamera
The 'Museum Wormianum' another vast Wunderkammer collection by Ole Worm
The 'cabinet of curiosities' or 'wonder room' (wunderkammer) originated in the 16th century Europe as science and exploration created a wide variety of new and exotic objects and natural history specimens. Collections would range in size from a small cabinet to vast chambers covered from floor to ceiling in exhibits. The cabinets often contained forged or unknown specimens from ships returning to Europe from distant and unexplored parts of the world, which added to their intrigue, a glimpse into the world of the unknown and exotic.
Albertus Seba a dutch zoologist and pharmacist collected and illustrated hundreds of wunderkammer specimens, Taschen has released reproductions of his life's work in the beautifully illustrated book Cabinet of Natural Curiosities. In 1716 Peter the Great purchased Seba's entire collection of specimens along with other vast collections to exhibit in the Kunstkamera in St Petersburgh, the largest wunderkammer in existence featuring over 2,000,000 exhibits. The Czar had a particular interest in deformed animals and human fetuses, and even issued a decree that all malformed and still born fetuses from all over Russia be sent to the Kunstkamera.
