Die Wunderkammer Olbricht

Hidden in the exhibit hall me Collectors Room Berlin you find a Wunderkammer containing a shrunken head, the tusk of a narwhal and around 200 other interesting objects.

The Wunderkammer is put together by the chemist, doctor of medicine, endocrinologist and private collector Thomas Olbricht (1948-) and contains rare craft objects from the Renaissance and Baroque period. The me Collectors Room Berlin also shows about three contemporary art exhibitions each year, but it is the Wunderkammer that contains that contains the most fascinating objects. In the exhibit entrance you can for example find a narwhale tusk, which in medieval Europe were mistaken for horns of unicornes and the fabled tooth shall actually have been quite prized, since Queen Elizabeth in the 16th century paid 10,000 pounds for one (equivalent to the cost of an entire castle).

Another interesting (and horrifying) object in the collection is a shrunken head with unknown origin.   

It rekindles the tradition of the historical cabinet of curiosities and manages to fulfill the original purpose that a Wunderkammer served some four or five centuries ago; engendering a sense of wonder in the viewer. 

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