Arms and Paintings
On the wall, you can see weapons grouped around the armour. On the right-hand side, you can see halberds and spears, while swords and striking weapons hang on the left. The largest sword, which is over a metre long, is of Polish origin. The inconspicuous club, which is slightly curved at the top, further to the left is a South Indian throwing stick, which is described as follows:
Where it strikes, it shatters arms and legs.
It was quite common to exhibit arms in such universal collections; after all, war was as omnipresent then as it is today.
The copperplate engraving shows a model of the Old Testament tabernacle, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was something like the mobile central sanctuary of the people of Israel on their long journey.
All of Europe on one sheet! Although it appears quite inconspicuous, as the headline suggests, this is nothing less than a geographical, historical and political mirror.
First, please turn your attention to the large single portrait. Here we see an important intermediary for Halle Pietism: Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolph. As a diplomat, he travelled all over the world. During his travels, he was in constant communication with August Hermann Francke. Ludolph was one of Francke's prominent colleagues and always strove to spread Pietist ideas further.
Look around at your leisure. Please do not touch the objects.
© ©Markus Scholz
The students of the foundations once cranked the large planet model. The large wire basket began to move and the planets revolved around the Earth – driven by a complicated wooden gear mechanism. Over time, this was repeatedly rebuilt and no longer functions properly today.
We conclude our tour of the cabinet of artefacts and natural curiosites at the model of the world. Feel free to visit our YouTube channel, where we regularly present objects from the collection in short films.
