Captured Goods
New exhibition in Bern shows captured goods from 1250 -1520
During the 15th and early 16th century Switzerland took part in a series of successful wars against the Burgundian Dukes. At the battles of Aaargaus 1415 and Waadt 1536 rich prey fell in the hands of the burghers of Bern. The greatest trophies, however, stem from the battle against Charles the Bold in 1476, when the ducal treasures were seized in total. Part of these treasures ended up in the History Musuem in Bern, where they are currently exhibited. For those who did not have the chance in 2008, when the “life and times of Charles the Bold” was the object of a major European exhibition in Brussels, the possibility is here again to experience at least some of the priceless treasures.
Some of these magnificent pieces are the Mille-Fleur tapestry from 1466, which once belonged to Phillip the Good, the tapestry of the Adoration of the Magi from Brussels or Tournai ca. 1450 -1460 and a portrait of Phillip the Fair.
Each of these pieces represents the refined and exclusive taste, which governed at the Burgundian court in the later Middle Ages. Many of the treasures are currently being restored, and as part of the exhibition it is possible to watch the conservators at work as well as question them about the techniques, procedures and materials.
Captured Treasure – Court art in Bern (1250–1520)- Erobertes Gut – Höfische Kunst in Bern (1250 – 1520)
Bernisches Historisches Museum
Helvetiaplatz 5, Bern
The Catalogue from 2008:
Katalog zur Ausstellung
«Karl der Kühne (1433–1477)»
Hrsg: Historisches Museum Bern; Bruggemuseum & Groeningemuseum Brügge
Verlag: Mercatorfonds, Brüssel 2008
