Wunderkammer (German, "wonder cabinets") were the common way to display collections from travel or the natural world from about 1550 to about 1750 during the Renaissance and Age of Reason.
A cabinet of curiosities stores and exhibits a wide variety of objects and artifacts, with a particular leaning towards the rare, eclectic and esoteric.
Through the selection of objects, collectors tell a particular story about the world and their interests. Some cabinets feature antiques, objects of natural history (such as stuffed animals, dried insects, shells, skeletons, shells, herbarium, fossils) and works of art.
In cabinets of curiosities during the Renaissance, Age of Reason, and Victorian Age, collections were often organized into about four categories (called in Latin):
Artificialia, which groups the objects created or modified by human (antiques, works of art);
Naturalia, which includes creatures and natural objects (with a particular interest in rarities);
Exotica, which includes exotic plants and animals; and
Scientifica, which brings together scientific instruments and evidence of new discoveries.
One of the most interesting factors in a cabinet of curiosities may not be the collection or artifacts or the cabinet itself, but who made and arranged the collection and the decisions they made about what to include, how to organize the individual elements, and the story they tell.
YourWunderkammer!
Create your own cabinet of curiosities using images or digital artwork in Google Drawing.
Select the cabinet below that appeals most to you, use File--Make a Copy to make your own curated working space in Drive, then arrange items of interest to you in the cabinet.
This student was excited about "Progress of Science and Society" and "Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations." They wanted to have a collection with these connections.
Their first column includes the big, general, ideas.
Their second column stores examples of specific artifacts.
Their first row connected tools with the discovery of the Sibudu Needles.
Their second row connected art with the discovery of early paint pots.
They might complete their third row with mathematics and an abacus, or sand writing, or the Ishango bone artifact.
A 3 row, 2 column cabinet for just starting out . . .
A 3 x 3 cabinet as you gain confidence and make more connections . . .
A more unusual form as your interest increases . . .
A most curious circular cabinet of curiosities . . .
If you like, you may extend your experience by finding your own favorite form of cabinet or design your own! I hope you will share it with me via email, in the Google Classroom stream, or via the Share button in the top right of most Google tools.