Quelle: Linnean Society of London, Pulse, Issue 49, October 2021, p. 6 – 7

Den Original-Text gibt es hier.

by Mark Benecke FLS

Hier gibt es den Original-Text als .pdf.

The online launch of the annual Francke Foundations’ exhibition, ‘Wunderkammer’ or ‘Chamber of Wonder’, on 2 May 2021 in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, celebrated, among other things, the 300th anniversary of the first European children’s hospital on the Foundations’ premises in Halle/Saale.

Built in 1695 by August Hermann Francke (1663– 1727), it was established as a school for poorer children and orphans, and its ‘Cabinet of Curiosities and Artefacts’ is one of Germany’s oldest research collections. In 1741, after an extension was built for children and adolescents, the natural history collections and cabinet of curiosities was given a home in the attic of the building, which had formerly been the boy’s dormitory. (Incidentally, this large attic space is located under one of the first mansard roofs built in Germany.)

In place of the usual launch celebrations (due to COVID-related restrictions), as keynote speaker I was taken to the building’s cabinet of curiosities, and thought I might share the Linnaean connection with other members of the Society.

The ‘Chamber of Wonder’

The ‘Chamber of Wonder’ (alongside artefacts such as lathes, a pharmacist’s table and shoes that were used as tools of torture), is displayed in much the same way as it would have been in the 18th century, housing three kingdoms which are split into two remarkably beautiful cabinets to the left and right of a window. It is the first German collection of minerals, plants and animals classified according to Linnaeus’ taxonomy (‘...there are things from the animal kingdom (ex regno animali) which are divided into different classes according to Linnaeus’ taxonomic system’). It houses many curiosities, from tattooed fish to a stuffed Nile crocodile.

From the outset, human specimens were also incorporated into these cabinets: examples of fetuses at differing stages appear, dated from 1698. There are also ‘stones’ and ‘growths’, essentially how ulcers on the heart, gallstones and kidney stones were described.

Even pure curiosities like the ‘tendon from a Turk, braided together like a whip; from Hungary’ figure into the collection’s mix. A finely- shaped ostrich egg (as was often found in these chambers of wonder), a tropical Medina worm, a six-footed calf and a snow-white sparrow are also part of the collection. The Medina, or Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis), was sent from India, from the Tranquebar (today Tharangambadi) mission station by missionary doctor Samuel Benjamin Knoll; he had pulled it from the foot of a local patient.

Grinning cats & bishop-fish

What is striking is the way in which the zoological specimens are housed, in an ornate cabinet where an illustration of a grinning big cat observes the collection and guests in much the same manner as a wealthy spectator from his box at the theatre. The painted shadows mimic how natural light might play with the drawn images, were they three-dimensional. Instead of the more typical floral panelling found on similar examples of cornices, here we are presented with a flying squirrel, bat and a spider, as well as lizards and snakes, caught somewhere between the styles of Mark Catesby (1683–1749) and Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717).

Another unusual painted specimen may be the mythical ‘Bishop-fish’ (still being sold to gullible tourists to this day), or perhaps the huckster’s favourite, the ‘Jenny Haniver’—a ray that has been modified, then dried to resemble a cryptid sea creature. The cornice paintings of the botanical and conchological cabinets likewise reflect the contents of the shelves shaped into faces, in much the same vein as the work of Milanese artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo (1526–93).

The minerals (stones) are divided into 19 groups, and from there into a further 21 subgroups. What is unusual here is the figurine of a bird that had been placed in iron-rich, curative water in Karlsbad (Carlsbad or Karlovy Vary, today in the Czech Republic), where it grew a covering of brownish encrustations. These coatings had long been sources of interest; in 1701, the chamber’s first printed catalogue already mentioned a brown ‘plate’ with bubble-like elevations, subsequently described in more detail in 1741 as ‘a large piece of dark brown hard stone, having adhered itself to a bathroom basin from the Carlsbad water’.

The botanical realm

The botanical realm is less well-represented, though it does include specimens from all over the world. The main botanical subdivision is that of ‘plants that grow in the earth, in the open air’ (vegetabilia terrestria) and those that ‘grow in the water, either in rivers or in the sea’ (vegetabilia aquatica, fluviatilia & marina). A further distinction has then been made in terms of: 1. roots; 2. logs or wood; 3. leaves or herbs; 4. flowers; and 5. fruits and seeds.

Rarities also play a special role in the plant collection, including the cone from a cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus lebani). Mentioned in the Bible—both in the Old and New Testament—it is suggested as the material used to build Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The inclusion of the cedar cone in the collection therefore comes as no surprise, as the Francke Foundations were a Christian, Pietist institution.

Alongside the large, ‘double’ nut of the Seychelles palm (Lodoicea maldivica, the largest seed in the plant kingdom, which can be found in other cabinets of curiosities), in the Halle cabinets one can see palm leaves and household items made from coconut. However, also grouped with the botanical specimens are corals, which were initially classified as plants. For the completely restored and reconstructed exhibition, they have been left there, in their factually wrong, original place.

There is also a ‘conchological’ collection, which includes starfish, snails, mussels, sea urchins and ‘sea insects’, or crustacea. Many of these specimens come from the Indian Ocean, as the employees of the Danish-Halle Mission were able to regularly transport items from there.

Dedicated restoration

An interesting point of note is that some acquisitions came from Johan Abraham Rüdel, who was not only raised in the Foundations’ care facilities as an orphan, but spent most of the rest of his life there. In 1740, he became the curator of this incredible cabinet of curiosities.

Eventually, and over many years, the Halle collection had fallen into disrepair, having been separated and scattered over the grounds of the Foundations’ numerous buildings. After the fall of the socialist system in former East Germany, the archivist at the time and current director of the Foundations, Thomas Müller-Bahlke, and restorer Hans-Dieter Jach, were able to rebuild the collection in a manner true to the original, using the original specimens, reopening it in the autumn of 1995. Visitors are welcome to explore the museum after registering; the site also has an extensive library, which houses works going back to the earliest days of printed books.

https://www.francke-halle.de/en/culture/exhibitions/

References

Benecke, M. 2021. Kat Menschiks und des Diplombiologen Doctor Rerum Medicinalium Mark Beneckes illustrirtes Thierleben. Fourth edition. Berlin: Galiani. Müller

Bahlke, T. (ed.). 2012. Die Wunderkammer der Franckeschen Stiftungen. Second, revised and extended edition. Halle/Saale: Verlag der Franckeschen Stiftungen.

TOP LEFT: The cabinets house the first collection in Germany to be classified according to the Linnaean system.

BELOW LEFT: One of Germany’s oldest research collections, it holds many rarities, from tattooed fish to the cone from a cedar of Lebanon.

BELOW: The author in the Francke Foundations’ Wunderkammer, or Chamber of Wonder; note the grinning big cat in the background.

ABOVE: Unusually, and eye-catchingly, the cornices are painted with a variety of species, including some cryptids or hoaxes. All images: Ines Benecke, except author image

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