Museum Gallery And Heritage - The Cabinet of Curiosity

  Cabinet of curiosities, as known as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer ("art-room") or Wunderkammer ("wonder-room"), is the original form of museum. At first it was a personal collection of things of wonder, mostly own by wealthy man. It contained both natural and man-made objects. They collected things that they found wonder and curious such as holy relics from a Spanish ship; earthen pitchers and porcelain from China; a Madonna made of feathers and a chain made of monkey teeth.

  The main function of cabinets was to provoke a sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer instead of showing one man’s wealth. They displayed their owners' notions of Art (man-made artefacts), Science (natural artefacts) and Spirituality (sense of wonder at God's works) in a physical form. Collecting these items is not to analyse and classify that artifact but showing a world-view that valued the 'wonder' in an artifact.

  Cabinet of curiosities can be described as a microcosm or theater of the world, and a memory theater. They hold a lot of collections which are rare enough to be found in the other places. They always possess memories within them, like natural history, geology, ethnography, archaeology, religious or historical relics, works of art (including cabinet paintings) and antiquities. Each of the items represents the place where it came from and at the same time holds the memory of that place. If we interpret them, a lot of messages will be shown. They help you to experience the sense of wonder in all kinds of things in the world and discovering new and extreme examples of the natural and the man-made.

  Cabinet of curiosities means a lot to us. It’s very important for human and I think everyone should have their own cabinet no matter in what form. It should be stored by the things that mean a lot to us, and represent ourselves. We will always be reminded where we came from, and where we should head toward. It’s a connection between human and the world.

  Now at modern age, cabinet of curiosities can be performed in many ways instead of a “cabinet”, like blogs. People collect information, store and share them to the world, efficiently give full play to the spirit of cabinet of curiosities.

  As Samuel Quiccheberg (an eminent curator of cabinets) wrote: "The ideal collection should be nothing less than a theatre of the universe, it is the keys to the whole of knowledge."