300 years of curiosity. Hidden knowledge from the Cabinet of Artefacts and Natural Curiosities

2025 marks the anniversary of the reopening of the Cabinet of Artefacts and Natural Curiosities in the Francke Foundations, one of the best-preserved early universal collections. The annual exhibition commemorate and pay tribute to the great achievement of reconstructing the cabinet and making it accessible in 1995 – as well as offering a kind of instruction manual for the »walk-in exhibit Cabinet« in the 21st century. The exhibition route spans an arc from the unique classification system of the objects and collection furniture to the then state-of-the-art systematization of the natural objects, goes in search of lost and mysterious objects, approaches the India cabinet from a post-colonial perspective, follows visitors from the 18th century on a journey through time and also lets the gaze wander over the Cabinets of Curiosities in the 21st century.