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Renaissance
1536 - 1660 |
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Renaissance thinkers were fascinated by the world and keen to study and understand its composition and interrelationsships - in order, at least in part, to master it. The world also became smaller as explorers embarked upon epic voyages, leading, for example to the discovery of America. The development of sophisticated clocks and refined instruments was a consequence of this interest in the nature of things.
The collection housed by The National Museum reflects the incipient technical and scientific revolution associated with the Renaissance, as well as the prestige associated with owning fine and unusual instruments. |
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Half face, half skull |
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| Mankind took centre stage during the Renaissance, a time, which focused not only on the life of the individual but also on death. Depictions of human beings, alive or dead, were based on an allmost scientific degree of observation. This ivory carving half face and half skull, was part of the collection of the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. |
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Armillary sphere - the old universe |
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| In 1543 Caspar Vopel of Cologne made the armillary sphere, i.e. a model of the universe with the earth at its centre, around which revolve 11 rings representing the orbits of the stars. The specimen in The National Museum was made in the same year as the Polish astronomer Copernicus, on his deathbed, read the proofs of his book "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres". In the book he argues that the Sun, and not the Earth is the centre of the universe. |
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The smallest exhibit? |
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| This tiny shoe was carved from a cherry pip and purchased by Dr. Ole Worm, whose private collection was sold to King Frederik the 3rd., who established the Royal Cabinet of Curiosities. The shoe is one of the objects that has been in the museum for the longest period of time, and is also one of the smallest exhibits. |
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