Vienna, of course, is a cultural hub. We focused on two national museums situated in two imposing baroque and vitually identical buildings facing each other across an open mall, the Natural History Museum and the Art History Museum. The parallel architecture and placement of these museums suggest that art and natural history are equally important, a familiar wunderkammer theme.

These are two vibrant modern museums, but each has chunks of their founding wunderkammern collections present.

The Art History Museum contains an in-tact sliver of Rudolf II’s massive wunderkammer. Rudolf II (1552-1612), became Holy Roman Emperor in 1576 upon the death of his Hapsburg father Maximillian II. He moved himself, his collections and his government to Prague in 1583 to Hradcany castle, the world’s largest castle, and there built the world’s largest wunderkammer, including “everything rich and strange”. Rudolf was given to depression/ melancholy. His kingdom was dominated by struggles between Catholics and Protestants and it seems he withdrew more and more from public life to his collections. Rudolf possessed a wunderkammer which was a complete microcosm of the world symbolizing that he was master of the world (Kenseth, p85). And clearly he found this microcosm a more reassuring place than his fractious court where plots to depose him became increasingly common. Relaxing his claim on absolute power somewhat, he was able to keep his crown and (perhaps more importantly to him) maintain a network of agents worldwide to search out wonders for his collection. You might recall from Chapter 9 he bought the entire Ambras collection in 1600. But upon his death in 1612 his collection was scattered and only a small grouping of his antiquities remained in tact as a collection. This collection was eventually brought to Vienna.

Here is a classical carved Roman eagle in agate, and at the beginning of this chapter is another ancient agate cameo in a jewel mount surmounted by the Hapsburg eagle commissioned by Rudolf.

Here is a collection of ancient signet rings attractively back lit.

Rudolf’s collection also includes ancient statuary.

Elsewhere in the museum are other elements of Rudolf’s collection such as this collection of miniature painting on ivory of Hapsburg family members created for the Ambras wunderkammer and bought as part of that purchase in 1600.

Similarly here is a cabinet of the type Rudolf used to house parts of his vast collection.

The general collection has two painting while not Rudolf’s are very typical of the wonder chamber. This work, a self portrait by Parmigianno (1505-1540), demonstrates the highest tromp l’oeil (trick of the eye) skills. The painting appears to be on a convex silvered surface but is in fact rendered on a flat canvas. All the curvature optics are faux. The degree of difficulty is high, the virtuosity extreme and the effect truly wondrous.

This vegetable face by G. Arcemboldo, c1563, is more virtuosity and tromp l’oeil. Each vegetable is a perfect still live of a vegetable. These are assembled to form a face which would fool you briefly from a distance. What is real, what is faux, all done with a sense of humor. Rudolf had his portrait done by Arcemboldo, reportedly his favorite artist, with a pair for his nose and a thistle for his chin(Mauries, p.129).

While the portion of Rudolf’s wunderkammer in the museum is limited, the art collection here is not limited at all, being one of the world’s most eminent museums, ranging from Egyptian to the 18th century, and making for an enjoyable visit.

The Natural History Museum across the mall traces its ancestry to Franz Stefan (1708-65) married to Maria Theresa (1717-80) who was elected holy Roman Emperor in 1745, almost 200 years after Rudolf’s birth. In 1748 Franz Stefan bought as core of his collection a 30,000 specimen collection of natural history assembled by a Florentine and former curator of the Medici duke of Tuscany whose dukedom reverted to Franz Stefan when the Medici line became extinct (MacGregor, p16).

Here Franz Stefan is pictured with his collections in their original location.

When he died in1765, Maria Theresa created the current museum in its current location. This collection is now embedded in a major modern museum of 20 million objects, but the museum still retains its “age of reason” feel, a holdover from Franz Stefan and the twilight days of the wunderkammer.

One of the prizes in the mineral collection is Maria Theresa’s rock crystal (quartz) vase filled with a bouquet of flowers constructed of precious and semiprecious stones.

The museum scope is encyclopedic. There are rooms of fossils, such as these ammonites.

There are rooms of taxidermy such as these cases of birds in late 18th century glass cases.

Here the eggs of ostriches and emus are compared with that (center) of the extinct elephant bird.

And the iconic crocodile is presented in the collection not suspended mysteriously from the ceiling but rather exhibited in the proper taxonomic grouping as proscribed by Linneaus.

These two Vienna museums are first and foremost major modern museums but do retain outcroppings of the original feeling of wonder constructed by their Hapsburg emperor forbearers. You’ll need at least half a day in each museum.

References:
The Age of the Marvelous, Joy Kenseth (Hanover, NH, 1991).
Curiosity and Enlightment, Arthur MacGregor (New Haven, CT, 2007).
Cabinets of Curiosities, Patrick Mauries (London, 2002).

About 6 hours south of Kassel, and on the other side of the Alps is the beautiful city of Innsbruck, Austria, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and nestled in a lush green valley ablaze, in early May, with the cherry and lilac blossoms.

It is here that Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) moved to in 1564, converting a gothic castle into a Renaissance palace, and here that one of the most satisfying wunderkammern can be seen today. It is exhibited in the same place and in much the same manner as was first installed by Ferdinand in the 1560’s.

Ferdinand’s father, uncle and older brother were each Holy Roman Emperors. His uncle, Charles V (1500-1558) was perhaps the best known and most powerful Holy Roman Emperor of all times, and the empire then included Austria, Hungary, upper Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.

So Ferdinand II had plenty of money and plenty of free time and he put both to good use in assembling one of the most famous wunderkammern of his time. Though it was sold for a fortune by his son about 1600 to Emperor Rudolf II (1552-1612) and was then temporarily moved twice to avoid the devastation of war (during the Napoleonic era and World War II), this collection has remained quite in tact. And what we see today is quite similar to what Ferdinand left behind.

His plan (and the one used today) was to group items based upon the materials they were composed of, and place each group in its own floor-to-ceiling case, where the background color was chosen to show that group to best advantage. Thus the goldsmith items were presented against a blue background, the wood against red, the stone against green, etc.

The goldsmith items usually were natural items of great rarity set in gold settings. For instance, here is a coconut shell, a rare and wondrous item in the 1560’s and one reputed to have magical healing properties, mounted as a chalice with gold base, handles and ornamentation. The blue, as selected by Ferdinand, sets off the gold work nicely.

18 such cases were placed in the middle of this large room back to back in rows of 9, and the walls and ceiling at the perimeter were richly hung with paintings and oversized items (Auer et al, p 30).

The collection was encyclopedic, and the scope as broad as possible with naturalia and artificialia from all fields of knowledge. And the various collections were presented side by side with the gold and treasury items to underscore the idea that all of God’s works were of equal value.

The categories included many predictable ones for a princely wunderkammer, goldsmith works, stone works, instruments (scientific as well as musical), bronzes, and exotica such as ivory and mother of pearl works, but then also ones of particular interest to Ferdinand, such as hand stones, coral, wood turnings produced by his turnery, glass, including that executed by his own glassworks, and natural history.

Hand stones were bizarrely shaped rocks and minerals sized to fit your palm that were then trimmed with tiny gold and silver figurines. Here a porous mineral specimen has had its niches filled with gold support columns and subterranean human figures, all surmounted by Christ’s crucifixion.

Ferdinand II owned the world’s most important collection of hand stones of his time (Auer et al, p36).Here is another hand stone where the natural specimen seems to be white coral. Biblical figures rest about its base while one of their numbers receives a visitation by an angel, who you can see atop the coral column. This is a particularly beautiful object.

Coral was richly represented. Here a collection of a wide variety was mounted on bases, and at the beginning of this chapter, naturalistic coral had sections carved in the image of Christ’s crucifixion.

Wood was elevated by being so skillfully turned and filigreed often by Ferdinand’s own turners. See the detail of a large Tirol sepulcher c1575 as well as a similar work in ivory.

Similarly Ferdinand’s love for Venetian glass caused him to found his own glass works, producing these crucifixes. (You can’t help but notice how often the subject is a crucifix…you might say they were crusi-fixated.)

This glass works also produced glass images. This example shows an image of Adam and Eve on paper sprinkled with powdered glass and featuring glass trees and figures.

The bold architectural design of this brass and iron lock shows that base metal works deserve inclusion in the wunderkammer.

Mandrake roots naturally occur in the rough shape of the human form and so were valued for their alleged magical properties. This mandrake root looks like a crucifix and would have been doubly prized as an example of mirabilia, an object demonstrating a miracle.

And just plain bizarre: here is a pair of leather boots from the mid 16th century where the toes are individually sheathed like gloved fingers.

The walls and ceiling at the perimeter of the room are here hung with a 16th century taxidermist’s shark lurking among other naturalia.

The adjacent 3 rooms house Ferdinand’s collection of knightly armor and Renaissance military weaponry. In 1564 he had 17 tons of armor transported to Ambras. The knightly material give witness to how important jousting was as a form of courtly entertainment in Ferdinand’s time, while the military material reminds us of how conscious the Hapsburgs were of the nearby threat of the Turks who occupied Eastern Europe.

Ambras is not to be missed. I’d recommend most of a day for the armory, wunderkammer, and the impressive portrait gallery in the main palace (see info.ambras@khm.at.) After your visit, I cannot recommend strongly enough a trip across town to Cafe Konditorei (Schneeburggasse 3, A-6020 Innsbruck) for pastry. They offer a wide choice of the best pastry I have ever tasted as well as light meals and cocktails.

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References:
Ambras Castle, Alfred Auer, Veronika Sandbicher, KarlSchutz, and Christian Beauford-Spontin, Translated by John Winbigler, (Vienna, 2000).

Despite being firebombed to rubble by the Allies during World War II, Dresden has arisen from the ashes miraculously to its former baroque glory and today houses two, not one, over-the-top wunderkammern. The Historic Green Vaults were designed by Augustus II and opened (very selectively) to the public in 1730. The New Green Vaults contain other princely assets originally housed elsewhere, plus items added after Augustus’s death in 1733. Together they represent Europe’s most magnificent treasury museum, and to the American mind, an embarrassment of riches.

As suggested in chapter 2, these wunderkammern were a tool of state craft. Consider Augustus II, who was christened Augustus the Strong by historians a hundred years after his death possibly due in part to his physical strength but mostly due to his womanizing … he reportedly sired over 300 illegitimate children. He had visited Louis XIV of France a few years before becoming the Duke of Saxony in 1694. He craved the absolute kingship enjoyed by Louis and desired the same for Saxony and later for Poland which he got himself elected king of in 1697. Louis spent huge quantities of funds to validate and reinforce his absolute monarch status and Augustus did likewise.

It was extraordinary that such a vast collection was ever assembled. Begun in 1560 by Augustus I as a more conventional wunderkammer with items of natural history and scientific instruments, it became more art and jewel oriented in subsequent generations, and then enjoyed spending like never before under Augustus the Strong, and his (only legitimate) son, Augustus III, again as reported in chapter 2. The natural history and scientific items were relegated to nearby collections to make room for the jewels.

That almost all of this princely collection survived is even more extraordinary. One component of it, August the Strong’s silver service –including many 6-foot-high sterling urns and candlesticks and 3000 pieces in all—was melted down in 1772 and turned into thalers during a Saxon economic crisis (Syndram, Gems, p.10). But the rest survived, several times being boxed up and stored in the palace basement or in a remote mountain fortress, including during the firebombing of World War II. It was then taken to Russia in 1945 and then returned by the Russians to their East German allies in 1958. And then the historic Green Vaults building, badly damaged in the firebombing was totally refurbished and reopened in 2006 in its baroque glory as envisioned by Augustus the Strong.

Unfortunately, photography is discouraged so many of the photos here are extracted from the Green Vault’s website or publications.

The New green Vaults

These wonderful and opulent items were not included in the vaults assembled by Augustus II, either because they were included in other state collections, e.g. the royal kunstkammer or the treasury, or they were acquired after he died. They are presented in a modern museum setting. Here are some examples:

These small figurines are each in the form suggested by a huge, naturally-occurring and strangely-shaped pearl that make up the bulk of each sculpture.

These and other items here illustrate several principles held dear by princely baroque wunderkammernists. The use of exotic materials in their natural state suggests collaboration between man and nature to form art. Virtuosic, practically impossible craftsmanship is utilized, and the skill level inspires wonder. The objects have no practical purpose. For instance, the bowl of Diana’s bath can’t hold liquids; it would leak where the base is attached. Objects instead were created to delight the beholder…and remind him of the status and power of the owner.

This Bath of Diana bowl is made of chalcedony (semi-precious quartz) with a carved ivory Diana over a figural base cast in gold and silver. The entire work is encrusted in jewels. Augustus II purchased this 15-inch sculpture in 1704 from jeweler G. F. Dinglinger for 8000 thalers (Syndram, Art Treasury, p.17).

The 41 ct Dresden Green Diamond, bought by Augustus III for 400000 thalers in 1742, was later incorporated into a hat brim ornament.

Even the boxes built to store the precious objects are themselves precious. Here are several leather-bound boxes, each built to house a unique shaped item.

Here are several items made by Johann Frederick Bottger. This alchemist had two goals: convert lead to gold and convert various ground earths into porcelain. Using trickery he could appear to accomplish the first goal, but never of course did. He did in fact accomplish the second goal. His unsubstantiated claims and promises regarding the first goal caused him to become the dungeon-bound prisoner of August II. His success in achieving the second goal caused Augustus to make him a baron…though he remained a prisoner (Gleason, p119).

Chinese porcelain, highly prized by Europeans, had eluded reproduction in Europe for 200 years, and the search for the formula in the late 17th/ early 18th centuries was on. In 1708, after hundreds of high-heat experiments, including many using the Burning Glass discussed in the last chapter, and with the vital collaboration of a scholarly nobleman, E. W. von Tschirnhaus, Bottger succeeded in creating both red (shown here) and white porcelain for his captor, Augustus II (Gleeson, pp68-9). As a result the famous and lucrative Meissen porcelain factory was soon begun, yielding Augustus II over 900000 thalers of benefit during his reign (Gleeson, p194).

The Historic Green Vaults

Here over 4000 items are presented very much as they were in 1730 by Augustus the Strong, in 8 highly decorated rooms on shelves and tables generally with no museum glass separating you from the objects. These rooms are sequenced in a theatrical manner, gradually increasing in dramatic opulence.

We start in the Amber Room. This highly valued Baltic fossil resin is a stone that both burns like coal and floats in water, and perhaps for these reasons is considered magical. This cabinet on stand, almost entirely built of amber, was a gift of the Duke of Prussia in 1728. There are a number of other beautiful amber goblets and caskets and lesser objects as well.

You next enter the Ivory Room filled with turned and carved ivory sculptures. From time to time the spectacular ivory frigate pictured at the beginning of this chapter has been on display in the Ivory Room, although now, probably for conservation reasons, is in the New Vaults. This 50-inch sculpture made in 1620 demonstrates what a great carver’s medium ivory is…the sails are each carved so thin as to be translucent.

Then you enter the White Silver Room where the silver service of Augustus II once was and which is now filled with objects made of silver, wood, ivory, coconuts and other exotic materials, all presented against red walls.

Then the Silver Gilt Room house silver articles with gold wash presented against green walls.

Then there is the Hall of Precious Objects with hundreds of sculptures of precious and semiprecious stones.

Then you enter a rather plain room, the Coat of Arms Room, ornamented only by a series of brass plaques on the walls. There is no furniture and no valuable objects. This is the dramatic hesitation to heighten the climax.

Then you enter the Jewel Room, where a pair of nearly 3-foot-tall, bejeweled “Moors” (one shown) greet you with their offerings of emeralds, etc, served on a platter. And then you are treated to a number of cases loaded with jewels. Here, unlike the rest of the Historic Vaults, glass cases are used, understandably separating you from the goods.

This case is dedicated to rubies, the so-called ruby garniture. Other cases are dedicated to diamond, carnelian, tortoise-shell, sapphire and emerald garnitures.

The cases have all been restored to their 1730 appearance as have all the appointments of the room.

Finally you enter the last room, the Bronze Room, a smaller room with a display of fine bronzes, the muted tone of which provide sharp contrast to the glitter you just left.

Conclusion

A tour through the Green Vaults was given the Duke of Prussia, a sometimes ally and sometimes enemy of Augustus II. This duke then wrote a certain Prince Leopold, “My father’s jewels are nothing compared to this” (Syndram et al, P18). No wunderkammer creator was as motivated by the need to inspire respect and fear. Mission accomplished, Augustus!

I’d recommend at least half a day to see these two wunderkammern. You must buy tickets in advance for the Historic Green Vaults which reserve a specific time slot. No refunds will be given if you change times. You can buy these tickets on line at their website, www.skd-dresden.de. and select Grunes Gewolbe. The physical address is Residenzschloss, Taschenberg 2, D01067 Dresden.

Nearby are a host of other museums, including the famous Zwinger which house an art museum, a porcelain museum, a museum of mathematical and scientific instruments and one of armor and minerals. I imagine a full day could be spent here. The Green Vaults are unique for being open on Mondays when most other museums are closed. Thus we scheduled our visit for Monday, glad to be making such a good use of an off day. But alas the Zwinger museums were all closed.

References :

Renaissance and Baroque Treasury Art The Green Vault in Dresden, Dirk Syndram, translated by Daniel Kletke, (Berlin, 2005).

The Historic Grunes Gewolbe at Dreden The Baroque Treasury, Dirk Syndram, Jutta Kappel, and Ulrike Weinhold, translated by Ulrich Boltz and Dr. Richard Gary Hooton, (Berlin, 2008).

The Arcanum, Janet Gleeson, (NY,1998).

Ferrante Imperator, Dell'historia naturale, 1599, the first published image of a wunderkammer

THEMES
Generally there were few rules governing the creation of a wunderkammer. 1) Be broad in your collecting. These after all were renaissance men. But the impetus to be broad was more than good manners. Consultants in this field back then advised you to be so broad that you were creating a microcosm of the entirety of God’s world. 2) Use symmetry where you can in your display. 3) Heighten the magic of your presentation by juxtaposing unlike objects for dramatic effect. Otherwise, there really weren’t rules…so the collections tended to be a very personal reflection of the owner’s interests…sort of your own 3-D walk-thru sculpture. And no two were alike.

Nonetheless, you can fit them into categories, based on their date founded, contents, and status of the owner.

Date founded: first or second period

The first period wunderkammern were founded say 1550 to 1650. They tended to be extraordinarily diverse in their contents and, to our mind, chaotically presented. Classification schemes, such as Linneus’ for plants and animals were 150 years in the future so first period collectors grouped things free of any such notions. They might group all the round life-forms together…sea urchins and coconuts, and the square ones together, etc or they might group together things made of the same materials regardless of the items’ history, thus the “unicorn” (narwhale) tusk would be grouped with ivory carvings and fossil bones. The smaller items would be housed in elaborately decorated multi-drawer collector’s cabinets. Part of the joy would be the marvelous way the contents could be spread out over, say, a hundred square feet when examined but then collapsed into the 2 foot square cabinet when all the many drawers were filled and the cabinet shut. Larger items on the other hand were unceremoniously hung from the walls or ceiling.

The second period wunderkammern c1650 to 1780, on the other hand tended to be systematically grouped, using Linneus’ and other modern systems. And the items were displayed behind glass…letting you see it all at once, a less mystical and more rational form of presentation, for the age of reason was beginning.

Scope: Naturalia or Artificialia

Natural wonders (Naturalia) might include actual specimens themselves, often from exotic locations: seashells, coral, stuffed or otherwise preserved specimens, pressed and dried plants, fossils and minerals. A related category was freaks of nature: sheep born with 2 heads, etc. Finally ethnographic tribal arts and crafts , e.g. feather headdresses, would land here.

Man-made wonders (Artificialia) would include craftsman or artist produced pieces that inspired a sense of wonder due to:
A) the extraordinary technique allowing the maker to accomplish the impossible, such as carving a walnut with the entire last supper scene, or paint a particularly realistic tromp L’oiel oil.
B) the opulence of the material involved–whether valuable gems and gold or worked exotic materials, such as ivory, mother of pearl, rhinoceros horn, etc.
C) the technological advance represented by the article–such as scientific instruments of great precision, and clocks, optics, etc. This category had the added renaissance appeal of providing mankind the ability to measure or otherwise control the forces of nature.

Owner’s Status: Noble or Not
In short was the owner a prince or a commoner, albeit a well heeled one such as an apothecary, a merchant or a clergyman? As we shall see, princes had the best financing, and often worked a statecraft agenda into their wunderkammern.

DREAMS

The objective of the wunderkammer founder is typically some mix of the following:
To celebrate God’s greatness and inspire wonder,
To stimulate the intellect,
To conspicuously consume, showing all the world how powerful you are.

I submit that celebrating God’s greatness and inspiring wonder was a prominent undertone in all wunderkammern. But what else besides wonder does the founder want to inspire, fear or learning?

Respect/Fear
Some of the princely wunderkammern are clearly built with a goal of inspiring respect and fear. The most dramatic of these we visited was Duke Augustus the Strong’s Green Vaults in Dresden. The opulence is extraordinary and the motive clear. Augustus the Strong (1670- 1733), Duke of Saxony, was a contemporary of two of the most powerful monarchs the world has ever seen, Louis XIV (1643-1715) of France to the west and Peter the Great (1689-1725) of Russia to the east. It seems Augustus wished to be recognized as very wealthy and thus very powerful…someone to be respected and feared. He for instance added to his wunderkammer of 10,000 precious objects a continuous stream of jewels, perhaps hundreds of them, made by his royal jeweler, J. M. Dinglinger. For two of the most dramatic of these, the royal coffee set and the model of the great mogel’s throne, Augustus paid a total of almost 100,000 thalers, the equivalent of half a ton of gold (Syndram,pp116-118). His opulent gambit seems to have at least partially worked: he was able to lay claim to the throne in 1697 of neighboring Poland by being elected–sort of—to the post without having to fight for it. (A few years later he was forced to go to war to keep his crown and these costs plus the cost of his collecting nearly bankrupted Saxony. But when he died in 1733 he was still king of Poland and Duke of Saxony.) And his son, Augustus III, who continued in these titles and continued in this tradition, paid 400,000 thalers or about 2 tons of gold, for the Dresden Green Diamond which was fashioned into an elaborate hat pin. (Syndram,p173.)

Learning
Athanasius Kircher (1602-80) built at the College of Jesuits in Rome a large wunderkammer, now mostly dismantled. Etched in its walls was the phrase, “whosoever perceives the chain that binds the world below to the world above will know the mysteries of nature and will achieve miracles”. (Mauries p34.) Professor Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1625) founded a wunderkammer of 20,000 objects in Bologna. “Collect, observe, compare”, he admonished and concluded, “nothing is sweeter than to know all things”. (Mauries,pp 148-150.) In fact it was often discussed that with a good library and wunderkammer, one might come to know in the span of a lifetime everything there was to know. Clearly learning was important to many wunderkammerists.

SCENES

Before considering each wunderkammer we visited, a note about the state of originality/preservation, the final attribute. A number of forces threatened the destruction of wunderkammern. Firstly, war and the big ones impacting wunderkammern were the Thirty-Years War (1618-48), the Napoleonic Wars and World War 2. Secondly, wunderkammern, the world’s first museums, often were dismantled and their collections fed into more modern museums. By the end of the 18th century the intellegencia of Europe began to regard the mish-mash of wunderkammern as old fashion and fuddy-duddy. As the new, modern museums were formed using systematic classifications, the old wunderkammern were raided for their materials with increasing frequency. (Incidentally, some of the world’s greatest museums started as wunderkammern, including the British Museum, the Oxford Museum, and the Vienna museums.)
The result is that reconstruction of these wunderkammern has often been required. The good news is that the wunderkammern were generally very well documented by inventory listings and copiously illustrated catalogues produced by the founders, so accurate guides for rebuilding them are available.

So here is the itinerary of wunderkammern we visited (shown in the appendix to this chapter) and a brief categorization of each one:

While the age, type and presentation format of these varied widely, we feel each one we visited was worth the effort, hands down. Each one will be handled in its own blog entry.

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References
Gems of the Green Vault of Dresden, Dirk Syndram (Leipzig,2005).

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Appendix: Details of a trip to the wunderkammern of Germany & Austria, Spring 2009

Two of us made an 11-day expedition in April/May of 2009 to 9 wunderkammern (wonder chambers or cabinets of curiosities) of Germany and Austria for a cost of a little over US$4,000, including flights to Munich from Boston and all meals.

The sites visited are not the only ones worth seeing but give a representative feel for those convenient to Munich or Vienna. We followed a 1600-mile loop northeast from Munich to Dresden, then west to Kassel, Germany, then south, over the Alps, to Innsbruck, Austria then east to Vienna, then northwest back to Munich for the flight back to Boston.

Generally the 2 of us stayed in bed and breakfasts which though comfortable were not particularly expensive (about Euro$100/ night, double occupancy, usually including breakfast). We used John Wasson’s method of finding lodgings. We had no reservations. We simply drove to the center of town which is generally well marked (“zentrum” in German) and once in the center found a few bed and breakfasts, quickly selected one, asked for a room (which were generally available), and moved in. In the summer tourist season this method might be riskier and so for that reason a list of where we stayed and contact information is provided below. We found dinner spots the same way and ate well. We’d almost always walk the city after dinner which I’d highly recommend. I for one was glad most people spoke English.

When planning a trip, bear in mind most museums including wunderkammern are closed Mondays. The exceptions are Ambros in Innsbruck (closed Tuesday vs Monday), the Green Vaults in Dresden and Trausnitz in Landshut, Germany which are open all days of the week. Winter schedules may well be different with more frequent closings. Check the wunderkammern websites (again listed below). Also it’s a good idea to pre-book a ticket on line for the Green Vaults. Also I used Mapquest for best routes and mileage estimates.

Details of our expedition:

4-23-09 Lufthansa flight #425 Boston, MA to Munich, Germany, cost US$501 per person, round trip(flight #424 return trip).

4-24-09 Arrive Munich. Pick up rental car (Europcar, our cost for total trip about US$500) and drive to the city. Visit Residenzmuseum Schatzkammer, see my chapter 3 and their web site (ResidenzMuenchen@bsv.bayern.de). Drive about 50 miles (1 hour) to Landshut. Spend night at Stadthotel Herzog Ludwig (www.stadthotel-herzog-ludwig.de) for Euro$89.

4-25-09 In Landshut, visit Castle Trausnitz, see my chapter 4 and their web site (www.burg-trausnitz.de ). Drive about 250 miles to Waldenburg. Allow 3 hours for drive. We elect to stop en route at Zwickau in former East Germany, staying at Holiday Inn, Zwickau (hotel@hi-zwickau.de ) for Euro$109.

4-26-09 Finishing the drive to Waldenburg (where there are hotels but which we did not research) we visit Linck’s Naturalienkabinet, see my chapter 5 and their web site (www.museum-waldenburg.de ). Then drive about 70 miles to Dresden, a remarkable baroque city rebuilt after World War II bombing. We stay at Hotel Friedrichstadt, Dresden, see www.cafe-friedrichstadt.de, for Euro$112.

4-27-09 Visit Green Vaults (Grunes Gewolbe) both the New and Historic vaults. See my chapter 6 and their web site, www.skd-dresden.de/en/museen/gruenes gewoelbe.html. Must have reservation to visit historic vaults. Might get opening the day you visit but safer to make reservation in advance on line at their website at cost of Euro$6 per person even though non-refundable. New vaults require no reservation. You might consider staying over another night to see all the other Dresden museums which unlike the Green Vaults (open all days) are closed Mondays.

Drive about 100 miles to Halle also in former East Germany –with a soviet-style city hall to prove it. Stay at Hotel Pension Am Ratshof (www.hotel-am-ratshof.de, for Euro$107

4-28-09 In Halle, visit Francke Foundation, see my chapter 7 and their web site, www.francke-halle.de . Then drive to Kassel, about 140 miles west, spending the night at Hotel Deuscher Hof, www.deutscher-hof.de , for Euro$87.

4-29-09 In Kassel, visit 3 separate museums, the Ottonium, the Orangiere, and the art museum to assemble the former wunderkammer in your mind. See my chapter 8.

Then head south to Innsbruck, Austria, 400 miles and 6 hours driving time away. We choose to spend the night along the way in Wurzburg, staying at Hotel Amberger ,www.hotel-amberger.de, for Euro$98.

4-30-09 Finishing the unhurried drive through the Alps, we arrive at Innsbruck, Austria, staying at Hotel Central, www.central.co.at, for Euro$97. We enjoy a great café called Café Konditorei (at Schneeburggesse 3, Innsbruck, A-6020) serving cocktails, light meals and outstanding pastries.

5-1-09 In Innsbruck, visit Schloss Ambras, See my chapter 9 and their web site, www.info.ambras@khm.at . Then head east for Vienna, 300 miles away, stopping after 100 miles in Salzburg. Here we stay at Hotel Neutor, www.neutor.at, for Euro$120, and walk to the nearby Old City for dinner.

5-2-09 In Salzburg, we confirmed the wunderkammer in the Dommuseum remains closed for renovations. It’s open now, see their web site, www.kirchen.net/dommuseum . Then complete drive to Vienna where we visit the 2 national museums, one dedicated to art history, Kunsthistorisches Museum, the other, natural history, Naturhistorisches Museum. See my chapter 10 and their web site, www.khm.at We recommend visiting one of these neighboring museum on this day, the other the next day. We lodge at Hotel-Pension Bleckmann, www.hotelbleckmann.at, for Euro$90.

5-3-09 Finishing the Vienna museum in the afternoon, we set out for Munich, some 270 miles and 4 hours away. En route, we stop at the historic city of Passau, staying at HotelGarni Herdegen, www.hotel-herdegen.de, for Euro$84. We walk the riverfront and nearby castle at night.

5-4-09 We arrive at the Munich airport and fly home.