98 97
T
The Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna has at last reopened one of its most priceless gems to the public: the Kunstkammer (or “cabinet of art”), with its works of art and marvellous rarities, is a museum-within-a-museum, unique in its kind. It took a decade to thoroughly reorganise and restore the fabulous Hapsburg collection, and today the world can admire its splendours also thanks to the design of the exhibition, devised according to the most modern criteria for lighting, conservation and security. A long-awaited reopening that was keenly supported by the director of the Kunsthistorisches, Sabine Haag, tireless promoter of this ambitious project of inestimable cultural significance. More than 2,000 objets d’art (the most important and precious pieces of the whole collection, which numbers more than 8,000) are exhibited in the 20 rooms that cover an area of approximately 2,700 square metres on the main floor of the museum. The emperors and archdukes of the House of Austria were keen collectors, and the treasures of the Kunstkammer provide an extraordinary evidence of their passion and a seamless overview of their history, from the late Middle Ages to the Baroque. The amazing “cabinet of wonder”, known as Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer, has its roots in the late Middle Ages, reaching its maximum splendour during the Renaissance and the Baroque, when a taste for all things rare, curious, bizarre and artful prevailed. In these very premises, the initial nucleus of the museum itself, Europe’s greatest patrons and collectors brought together their mirabilia and displayed them to an astounded public. These fascinating collections were the sole preserve of great sovereigns, aristocrats and monastic orders. The naturalia and artificialia that they collected constituted the summa of knowledge of their times: the most impressive works of both nature and the creative genius of man. Next to splendid corals, pearls and rock crystals - gems believed to have magical powers - and shells, oysters, ostrich eggs, fangs and exotic horns, and fish, and birds, and rare and unknown fruits in unusual shapes and dimensions, we find fine works of applied art in glass and porcelain, jewellery and miniatures, cameos and filigree works that are masterpieces of technical skill, made to impress and awe, and coins, rare books and prints. And then archaeological finds, scientific instruments, clocks, astrolabes, musical instruments and the ingenious mechanical magic of the uncanny automatons. The new layout of the Kunstkammer faithfully retraces the history
VIENNA 3ENG.indd 98
14/11/13 14.29