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Wunderkammer: cabinets of curiosities between collecting, art and science
Wunderkammer, cabinets de curiosités, chambers of wonders: from the late Renaissance onwards, this is how domestic spaces devoted to the gathering and display of natural specimens, artefacts and curious objects came to be known. Mysterious and fascinating places, they expressed a unique form of scientific collecting, from which today’s natural history museums derive, while also inspiring later artistic movements such as twentieth-century Surrealism.
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BeCulture is the platform dedicated to culture, created to accompany and facilitate travellers, art enthusiasts and the curious in visiting cities, museums and cultural institutions. Through in-depth information and thematic routes, you can create a customised visit built around your interests. A unique and secure purchase that includes tickets, publishing and official and certified merchandise. AVOID THE
Wunderkammer: cabinets of curiosities between collecting, art and science
Wunderkammer, cabinets de curiosités, chambers of wonders: from the late Renaissance onwards, this is how domestic spaces devoted to the gathering and display of natural specimens, artefacts and curious objects came to be known. Mysterious and fascinating places, they expressed a unique form of scientific collecting, from which today’s natural history museums derive, while also inspiring later artistic movements such as twentieth-century Surrealism.
What to see at the Museo Galileo: a journey through science, curiosity and inventions
Renamed Museo Galileo in 2010, the historic Institute of the History of Science of the University of Florence is dedicated to the material testimonies of Italian science and was the first of its kind in Italy. The collection – among the most important in the world – also includes instruments owned and devised by Galileo Galilei: the celebrated physicist and astronomer who, in the early seventeenth century, supported the Copernican heliocentric theory in opposition to the Church’s geocentric vision. Accused of heresy, Galilei was forced to recant, but his discoveries were later confirmed, and today, in the museum dedicated to him, we can admire some of the objects that contributed to modern science.
Francesco Jodice for the Gallerie degli Uffizi: interview with the winner of the Orbital Cultura Award 2023
“The photographs are deliberately meant to allude, with a touch of irony, to a postcard-like dimension as a defence mechanism against the erosion imposed by globalisation.” This is how Francesco Jodice, an internationally renowned artist, comments on the snapshots taken in 2023, when he won the Orbital Cultura Award and had the opportunity to capture some of Florence’s most important heritage museums.
We met him to learn more about this experience and his artistic vision.
The Tribuna degli Uffizi: heart of the first modern museum and treasure-box of wonders
Just past the halfway point of the first corridor of the Gallerie degli Uffizi opens the famous Tribuna. A magnificent, refined space, commissioned by Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici and conceived as a true room of wonders. Today it can be admired from various viewpoints but, for conservation reasons, it is no longer accessible to the public. Over time, the layout of this room has been modified to protect the objects originally kept there: the unusual configuration, its precious wall-coverings and furnishings, and the masterpieces on display still leave visitors speechless.
Bruno Munari’s Compassi d’Oro: a multifaceted artist and designer
Independent artist, advertising graphic designer, author of books for children and adults, inventor of industrial products and of the Macchine inutili: during his long and prolific career, Bruno Munari (1907–1998) was everything and its opposite. Driven by unquenchable curiosity and boundless imagination, he succeeded in merging fantasy and ingenuity, creative freedom and design in works that still feel original and relevant today.
His activity as a designer was widely acclaimed, and Munari was awarded the Compasso d’Oro—the oldest and most prestigious recognition in the field—no fewer than four times. And you might be surprised to learn that the credit also goes to a little monkey…
The art of miniature painting between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: techniques, history and masterpieces
Long – and wrongly – regarded as a “minor art”, miniature painting is one of the most refined and exquisite artistic expressions of ancient, medieval and Renaissance Europe. Less known to the general public than its “major sisters” (painting, sculpture and architecture), it is a precious testimony to the skill of its creators, the changes in taste across the ages, and the role that the written word has played in past history.
Let us therefore draw closer – metaphorically and not only – to the art of miniature painting and to some of its most celebrated examples, to better appreciate its style and evolution.
Wunderkammer: cabinets of curiosities between collecting, art and science
Wunderkammer, cabinets de curiosités, chambers of wonders: from the late Renaissance onwards, this is how domestic spaces devoted to the gathering and display of natural specimens, artefacts and curious objects came to be known. Mysterious and fascinating places, they expressed a unique form of scientific collecting, from which today’s natural history museums derive, while also inspiring later artistic movements such as twentieth-century Surrealism.
What to see at the Museo Galileo: a journey through science, curiosity and inventions
Renamed Museo Galileo in 2010, the historic Institute of the History of Science of the University of Florence is dedicated to the material testimonies of Italian science and was the first of its kind in Italy. The collection – among the most important in the world – also includes instruments owned and devised by Galileo Galilei: the celebrated physicist and astronomer who, in the early seventeenth century, supported the Copernican heliocentric theory in opposition to the Church’s geocentric vision. Accused of heresy, Galilei was forced to recant, but his discoveries were later confirmed, and today, in the museum dedicated to him, we can admire some of the objects that contributed to modern science.
Francesco Jodice for the Gallerie degli Uffizi: interview with the winner of the Orbital Cultura Award 2023
“The photographs are deliberately meant to allude, with a touch of irony, to a postcard-like dimension as a defence mechanism against the erosion imposed by globalisation.” This is how Francesco Jodice, an internationally renowned artist, comments on the snapshots taken in 2023, when he won the Orbital Cultura Award and had the opportunity to capture some of Florence’s most important heritage museums.
We met him to learn more about this experience and his artistic vision.
The Tribuna degli Uffizi: heart of the first modern museum and treasure-box of wonders
Just past the halfway point of the first corridor of the Gallerie degli Uffizi opens the famous Tribuna. A magnificent, refined space, commissioned by Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici and conceived as a true room of wonders. Today it can be admired from various viewpoints but, for conservation reasons, it is no longer accessible to the public. Over time, the layout of this room has been modified to protect the objects originally kept there: the unusual configuration, its precious wall-coverings and furnishings, and the masterpieces on display still leave visitors speechless.
Bruno Munari’s Compassi d’Oro: a multifaceted artist and designer
Independent artist, advertising graphic designer, author of books for children and adults, inventor of industrial products and of the Macchine inutili: during his long and prolific career, Bruno Munari (1907–1998) was everything and its opposite. Driven by unquenchable curiosity and boundless imagination, he succeeded in merging fantasy and ingenuity, creative freedom and design in works that still feel original and relevant today.
His activity as a designer was widely acclaimed, and Munari was awarded the Compasso d’Oro—the oldest and most prestigious recognition in the field—no fewer than four times. And you might be surprised to learn that the credit also goes to a little monkey…
