ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

II.
Looking at the Nordic museums, i.e. museums in Scandinavia and Finland. as
a whole, the pattern is both similar and different. The lerm 'Nordic' covers
the Scandinavian countries Denmark. Iceland. Norway and Sweden together
with Finland. today with roughly 25 millions inhabitants. The Scandinavians
are linguistically closely related, Finland has through its union with Sweden
from the Middle Ages until 1809 a history and culture closely related to
Scandinavia. Its Fenno-ugrian language is furthermore shared with the
Sami population in northernmost Scandinavia. From the common historical
destiny of the countries has grown a loyalty which has been most explicitly
expressed and reached peaks of enthusiasm in periods of aggression from
'without'. So at tlle end of the 19t1l centuJY when the solidarity with
Denmark in its conflict with Prussia inspired the scandinavistic movement
among unlversity students, so in the years of me Second World War. After
1945 formal organisations have been established to promote cooperation in
various fields of ("Ommon interest. One of mose organisations is tbe
Scandinavian Museums Association, which however was founded as early as
1915.
Obviously me early period of Nordic museum history is dOminated by
museums from above.
Denmark being part of the continent has through the ages served as
mediator ()f European cultural influences. Thus me first museum ideas no
doubt were those introduced by the Danlsh physician Ole Worm living in the
late 16th and early 17th century. He had become acquainted with collections
and collectors during his years of study, which in mose days were spent
mostly in Italy and Germany. His main subject was medicine, but his
interests were wide and he was deeply influenced by the antiquarian spirit
and archaeological activi ties of the age. On returning to Copenhagen in 1611
he visited the famous collector Moritz me Elector in Kassel as well as
Paludanus, collector of ethnography in Enkbuizen, the Netherlands. He
became professor of Medicine in Copenhagen and began collecting in the
1620's witll a view to offer his students objects for study. He entertained a
wide correspondence with the learned Europe concerning items for his
collection and started to work on a catalogue which was however printed
only in 1655, me year after his deam. The catalogue, Museum Wonnianum,
became influential as one of the first manuals for ordering a collection of
natural history specimens, making me important distinction between
'naturalia' and 'artificalia'. You have certainly seen me engraving from me
catalogue which is often reproduced in books on museum history.
But on the whole collecting was a royal and princely pursuit. So in Denmark
and in Sweden. After humble beginnings in the reign of his predecessors
the Danlsh King Frederick III in the 1640's began to arrange a collection in
me turnlng cabinet of me Royal castle in Copenhagen in the fashion of the
age. He was much inspired by travelling in France and the Netherlands
where he met with collectors and studied many of the famous collections.
The influence of his cousin Frederick residing at me Gottorp castle across
me border to Holstein was of special importance. He had completed a
KunstkanlIDer in 1648 headed by his Court Mathematician and Astronomer
Adam Olearius. In 1651 Olearius managed to acquire Paludanus' collection
from Enkhuizen and thus to enhance the fame of the Gottorp collection.
Frederick III in 1654 acquired Ole Worm's collection which was at that time
internationally well-known because of me catalogue. In 1665 it was
transferred from me castle to a building specifically designed for me
purpose. Ole Worm's close to 1800 letters covering the period 1607-1654 have
been published and mirrors the wide net of contacts with scholars allover
180