Nutze die Zeit - Kunstwerke der Zeitmessung
In the organizer's words:
With a showcase in the Astronomical-Physical Cabinet, Hessen Kassel Heritage is presenting masterpieces from the collection at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel from 23.10.2024 to 15.6.2025. The small but exquisite special exhibition "Use the time: works of art of time measurement" shows mechanical clocks as they were used in a historical context and for princely representation. A special highlight are the film installations, which give visitors an insight into how pocket watches and their movements worked.
Mechanical watches as coveted status symbols
Since their invention in the late 13th century, mechanical watches have been coveted status symbols. They combine inexhaustible possibilities for the decorative design of their exterior with technical sophistication and ingenuity on the inside. The metrological benefits of clocks in general only gradually emerged when scientific tasks challenged clockmakers to increase the accuracy of the movements.
In the 16th century, Kassel in particular contributed to this technical development: The "Astronomer Landgrave" Wilhelm IV (1532 - 1592) worked with outstanding clockmakers such as the Swiss Jost Bürgi from 1560 onwards to refine clocks technically so that they could be used scientifically at the landgrave's observatory as minute-accurate timepieces. Around 1600, this was considered utopian due to the proverbial inaccuracy of mechanical clocks.
After the devastating Thirty Years' War, Landgrave Carl (1653 - 1730) in particular continued William IV's tradition of procuring the most technically innovative clocks of his era. In 1962, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Kassel acquired the astronomical clocks of the Hamburg Bergedorf Observatory from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
World-class clock collection in Kassel
Today, the Hessen Kassel Heritage clock collection enjoys an outstanding reputation both nationally and internationally. One of the reasons for this is the special objects that illustrate many important milestones in clock technology and its development from 1550 to 1900.
Insights into the Kassel collection
With the start of this exhibition, Hessen Kassel Heritage at the Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel is offering changing insights into the valuable and internationally renowned collection of the Astronomisch-Physikalisches Kabinett. Integration into the permanent exhibition of the Hessian State Museum is currently being planned.
Originally there was a museum exhibition in the Orangery in Kassel. Due to the serious deficiencies in the technical installations and the overall structural condition of the Orangery, a fundamental overhaul of the building is unavoidable. The Astronomisch-Physikalisches Kabinett collection therefore had to move out in 2020.
It was recently possible to secure the continued partial use of the building by the planetarium, a catering business and the existing rental apartments. However, museum operations are no longer possible due to the existing deficiencies. Hessen Kassel Heritage is currently working on preparing the necessary major construction project and the corresponding consideration in the Hessian state budget.
This content has been machine translated.Location
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