Station: [57] Dioramas

Would you care for a glass of tea? The people living in this black tent appear to be inviting our museum visitors into their world!

People have always had the urge to make models to depict whatever moves them. That might be for religious reasons, as in the case of Christmas cribs, or reasons to do with power politics. An example there is the frieze depicting a procession of merchants on a building overlooking Nuremberg's main market.

The word "diorama" actually means "translucent image". It originally referred to a darkened stage with a semi-transparent screen. Different scenes were painted on the two sides of the screen. The image would change, depending on whether it was lit from the front or the back. One event dramatized in this way was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples.

At the first Paris World's Fair in the mid-19th century, several objects were set up in groups. Life-size figures wearing traditional regional costumes were placed in front of painted backgrounds. At one of the following World's Fairs in Paris, visitors had their first ever chance to see individual scenes showing the way people worked during the Stone Age.

Visitors responded enthusiastically to these presentations, and so museums started to incorporate dioramas into their exhibitions. They were especially popular in natural history museums. Stuffed animals were often shown in what appeared to be their natural habitat. But other themes were also addressed. Interest in foreign countries and foreign ways of life gradually grew.

Dioramas may make people curious about other cultures and ways of life. And you’ll find more dioramas, both small and large, in the other departments. Have fun discovering them!