Tag: #roamingexhibition

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The merchandise products: “the Father Bartolomeu de Gusmão’s aerostatic machine”

To respond to one of the challenges launched by the European Digital Treasures project, the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries of Portugal hired the IPCA (Polytechnic Institute of Cávado e Ave) to create some merchandising products inspired by documents of the National Archives Torre do Tombo and that belongs to one of the  Exhibitions, ” EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES: FROM THE NEW WORLD TO NEW TECNOLOGIES”, from the EDT. These products should please a very wide-ranging and diverse audience, contribute to increase the visibility of archives and their documentary heritage, diversify the ways in which they are approached, attract new audiences and increase the revenues of archives.

IPCA accepted the challenge and developed a set of products of which we now present “the Father Bartolomeu de Gusmão’s aerostatic machine”.

Historical background:

In August 1709 Father Bartolomeu de Gusmão presented to D. João V, king of Portugal, and his court, a balloon that rises 4 to 5 meters from the ground. In order to prevent the possibility of the plans being copied and to ensure his recognition as the inventor of the concept, Bartolomeu de Gusmão created the design of the Passarola, a bird-shaped machine that, in no way, corresponded to the original device, but served mainly to divert attention.

This picture can be found in the manuscript “Letters, consultations and other works by Alexandre de Gusmão: Father Bartolomeu de Guerreiro’s Aerostatic Machine” with reference code: PT / TT / MSLIV / 1011

More than three centuries later, the Passarola is still a source of inspiration. This episode was used by José Saramago in one of his most popular novels, “Baltasar and Blimunda”.

Here you can see a video on the IPCA process of creating a mobile from the National Archive of Portugal/Torre do Tombo document: https://youtu.be/vb83RNmppYg

General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libaries, Portugal

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Bohemia’s Protestant Exiles: Carl of Liechtenstein’s summons of 1621

This Document is one of the many exhibits of the roaming exhibitions of the Digital Treasures Project. It is part of the collection of the National Archive of the Czech Republic and is dealing about one of the important turning points at the beginning of the Thirty Years´ War. The document was published on 17th February 1621, but the battle at the White Mountain (Bílá hora, near Prague), was fought on the 8th of November 1620.

And here is the background of the document. It marks the culmination of a period of intense confrontation between the Protestant princes and nobles of the Holy Roman Empire and Central Europe on one hand headed by Frederick V, ruler of the Palatinate region in Germany, and the Catholic establishment of the Empire led by Emperor Ferdinand II. of Habsburg on the other hand.

In 1618 the Second Defenestration of Prague triggered the Thirty Years´ War. The two sides gathered armies, thus leading to the inevitable confrontation at White Mountain. Ferdinand’s Catholic army decisively defeated Frederick’s forces, and went on to capture Prague, thus effectively putting down the rebellion. Frederick and many of the Protestant leaders went into exile abroad.

The document was published in the name of Carl of Liechtenstein, one of Ferdinand II’s top officials at that time. In the text, it is announced that the emperor has ordered the trial. A list follows, naming the most notable of the rebels. In effect, though, the summons is designed to apply to all Bohemians who had actively supported the Protestant cause.

27 of those who did come up for trial were executed in Prague in June 1621, and those who remained at large had their land and titles confiscated and transferred to nobles and gentlemen (all Catholics) who had been loyal to Ferdinand. Protestantism was forbidden, and in 1627 centralised authoritarian government was introduced.

For the people living on the lands of the Bohemian Crown, the consequences were devastating. The expelled people originated from all social classes. Places of exile had been the protestant German lands or the different parts of the Crown of St. Stephen´s in the kingdom of Hungary.

At a wider European level, the repercussions of the Bohemian Revolt were wide-ranging. The conflict effectively kicked off a series of interlocking wars which devastated much of Central Europe. Only with the treaty at Westphalia in 1648 did Europe enter a state of (sadly temporary) peace once again.