{"id":22562,"date":"2023-06-13T09:53:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T07:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fromplacetoplace.travel\/?p=22562"},"modified":"2023-06-13T09:53:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T07:53:03","slug":"naturalienkabinett-waldenburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromplacetoplace.travel\/germany\/saxony\/zwickau-region\/naturalienkabinett-waldenburg\/","title":{"rendered":"Museum – Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg: on the trail of the wonder of nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Saxony there is the Museum-Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg (natural history cabinet), an impressive historical collection with numerous objects from the field of nature and astronomical and physical equipment, as well as arts and crafts exhibits from the Baroque period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What is a natural history cabinet?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term Naturalienkabinett (natural history cabinet) originates from the 18th century. It refers to a collection of objects from nature, which were sometimes collected out of splendor love, sometimes for pleasure and sometimes also out of scientific interest. In the 19th century, many natural history cabinets merged into natural history museums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Museum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The emergence of the Naturalienkabinett in Waldenburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Otto Victor von Sch\u00f6nburg-Waldenbeug must have been a true collector. In 1838, he commissioned Gustav Adolf Giese to look for private collections and buy them up, if possible, in order to found a natural history museum.
The first purchase was a small mineral collection, which was bought from the pharmacist Karl Friedrich Reichel in 1839. It was followed a little later by the collection of arthropods made by Karl Gerhardt and a collection of birds with 1200 exhibits from the confectioner Oberl\u00e4nder. Finally, it was possible to purchase a collection of works of art and natural objects from the Linck family. This collection was very extensive and varied and represented an enrichment to the previous exhibits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Museum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Such a collection naturally requires a lot of space and so the prince decided to expand the riding hall, which was built behind the stables. The space above the riding hall was to be used for the installation of the collection. It soon turned out that this idea was not so good. The climatic conditions caused the specimens to mold and so a solution had to be found quickly. A new building was erected next to the riding hall. The first floor was used as a shed and the museum was built on the upper floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jagdtroph\u00e4en<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the following years, the Sch\u00f6nburg-Waldenburg family expanded the collection. In 1846, for example, the Egyptian mummy of Shep-en-Hor moved into the museum. This can still be admired there today. Since about 1910, African and Romanian hunting trophies complemented the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mumie<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around 1933\/34, the collection was redesigned and reorganized. During this time, the “Linck Room” was created in a former guard’s room. This room also still exists. Whoever enters the small room will be astonished. Here is a jumble of art objects, which only the affiliation to the collection unites. For example, here you can discover rare colored glasses from 1690.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg survived the Second World War without significant damage. Even the Soviet army, which transported away numerous works of art from other museums, had no interest in the exhibits of the exhibition. In 1948, the Natural History Cabinet and the local history collection became the property of the town of Waldenburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Museum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gradually, the focus of the museum shifted. More and more, local history and natural history collection items became the focus of the exhibition. New exhibits, such as a calf with two heads, expanded the exhibition and made the museum popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since reunification, the main focus was initially on conserving and preserving the poorly preserved collection. Fortunately, with great professional expertise, the deterioration of the collection was stopped and thousands of cultural-historical objects were saved and documented. In the meantime, the museum building has also been renovated as a listed building and expanded to include a modern exhibition to accompany the historical natural history cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit to the Museum Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, the collection in the Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg is a listed building, just like the building itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you enter the historic rooms on the upper floor of the Natural History Cabinet, it is almost as if you are traveling back in time. No multimedia spectacle awaits you here; instead, dignified glass showcases and display cases made of dark wood stand on a slightly creaking wooden floor. If you want to know which exhibit it is, you can read the original small signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mineraliensammlung<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you wander through the rooms, you can see, for example, a mineral collection that was given to the collection by Carl Ferdinand Reichel in 1839. Countless stones and minerals, even a meteor can be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"K\u00e4fersammlung\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was impressed by the collection of arthropods and the bird collection, which consists not only of native bird species. There are even whole display cases with prepared insects, which are so small that I first thought that only the needles on which the preparations are stuck are to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Schauk\u00e4sten<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the Museum Naturalienkabinett Waldenburg you can also find the oldest collection of spirits in the world, where you can see amphibians, reptiles and fish. Today, 200 of the original 800 jars are still preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stopfpr\u00e4parate\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The numerous stuffed taxidermy specimens seem a bit creepy to me. For scientists, however, highly interesting, because on the basis of the different techniques of taxidermy learns a lot about the working methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Schrank<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We finally stop for a while at a cabinet. It looks as if there are books there. But it is a 7843 paper sheets herbarium collection of the pharmacist Reichel. A herbarium collection consists of preserved plants or parts of plants. There was a time when collecting plants was a big trend in some social classes. People collected and traded plants, just as sticky pictures are collected and traded today. The collection standing here cannot be viewed because of the partial state of preservation. However, the goal is to gradually digitize the collection and thus allow all interested persons a look into the collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Museum<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Linck Collection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Linck collection comes from the pharmacist family Linck from Leipzig. The family has been passionately collecting everything that was interesting since 1670, such as: Instruments, ceramics and medical products such as apothecary substances, plant and animal preparations, rock samples. In addition, there were art objects and the most diverse artifacts. They did not limit themselves to objects that came from the immediate area or from a particular era. Everything that was entertaining found its way into the collection. The collection reminds me a bit of the Wunderkammer I saw in Zittau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Linck-Zimmer\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the death of Johann Heinrich Linck the Younger in 1807, the collection was no longer maintained and was eventually sold to Waldenburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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