Current Exhibitions

“The Orient in Gotha”

Constellation of Cepheus. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī: Sufi Latinus, northern Italy, before 1428.

Sunday, 8 September, to Sunday, 3 November 2024
Friedenstein Palace, Hall of Mirrors

Curator: Dr. Feras Krimsti

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm, and on the public holidays 20 September, 3 October and 31 October. The exhibition will be closed from 25 to 27 September.

At the end of the 16th century, a student wrote down Ottoman words in his exercise book. He would later become an influential Lutheran theologian. Translations of pious literature which an Ethiopian priest co-authored with the founder of Ethiopian studies bear witness to the priest’s visit to Gotha in 1652. In the 17th century, a numismatist wrote a poem of praise in Arabic and Latin to the Duke of Gotha in the hope of securing a position at the Ducal Library. In the first decade of the 19th century, a natural scholar sent Arabic, Persian and Ottoman manuscripts to the library in Gotha while travelling through the Ottoman Empire and Arabia. He also collected cultural artefacts in the Ottoman Empire, such as unique historical fabric samples, and he sent them to Gotha.

These and many other traces of encounters with the Orient have been preserved in Gotha. They point to the work of scholars who were drawn to the city from the 16th to the 19th century. Among the scholars were Protestant theologians, natural scholars of the Enlightenment, Orientalists who adopted historical-critical methods, Romantic poets, and cartographers. The exhibition “The Orient in Gotha” takes a closer look at these scholars and the traces they left behind. Each of them, in their own way, shaped the view of the culture, history, literature and geography of the Ottoman Empire, the Arabian Peninsula, Ethiopia and other areas that were seen as part of the Orient. Four hundred years of Oriental studies in Gotha bear witness to the changes in scholarly research, and they shed light on the intellectual culture of the city of Gotha.

The Gotha Research Library would like to thank the Friedenstein Foundation Gotha for the items on loan. 

Exhibition flyer

Catalogue
A catalogue, available in bookshops and at the Gotha Research Library, covers the exhibition:
Feras Krimsti (ed.), The Orient in Gotha. Gotha 2024.

Information about the catalogue

Guided tours through the exhibition

Meeting point: Friedenstein Palace, Hall of Mirrors (Ducal Staircase, 2nd floor, left-hand side)

Guided tours on Tuesdays
10 September, 1 October, 15 October and 29 October 2024 – 5 pm each day

Tours with the curator through the exhibition
Tuesday, 17 September, 8 October and 22 October 2024 – 5 pm each day
Saturday, 19 October 2024 – 2 p.m.

Accompanying programme

Wednesday, 18 September 2024, 6:15 pm
“Even Today, the Colourful Orient Makes Gotha Flourish: The Lives and Experiences of Ethiopians and Eritreans in Thuringia”
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Wolbert Smidt (University of Jena and Mekelle University)
Gotha's links with Ethiopia have a long history dating back to the 17th century. Scientific Ethiopian studies were founded by the scholar Job Ludolf (1624-1704), who worked in Gotha and whose 400th birthday it is this year. He worked together with the Ethiopian cleric Abba Gorgoryos (around 1600-1658), who visited Gotha in 1652. There is still a thriving Ethiopian and Eritrean community in Gotha and Thuringia today.
Venue: Hall of Mirrors, Friedenstein Palace

Friday, 20 September 2024, 2 pm
Guided tour for children and families through the exhibition “The Orient in Gotha” with Dr. Feras Krimsti (curator).
Followed by a guided tour through the exhibition “My Heart Trembles Like Bamboo” in the Gotha City Library on the occasion of Castle Children’s Day and the ACHAVA Family Festival. For children aged 10 and older.
Meeting point: Museum ticket office of Friedenstein Palace

Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 6:15 pm
Perthes in Dialogue: “Ulrich Jasper Seetzen and the Cartography of the Orient”
Lecture by Dr Petra Weigel (Gotha Research Library)
Venue: Ancestral Hall in the Gotha Perthes Forum

Saturday, 28 September 2024, 6 pm
Storytelling concert “One Thousand and One Nights. The Book of Love” with the translator Claudia Ott and the IBTAHIDSCH Ensemble
Venue: Hall of Mirrors, Friedenstein Palace

Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 6:15 pm
“‘... Wretched Shards and Slabs of Stone, while the World Cracks at the Seams.’ The Orient of the Emperor”
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Matthias Steinbach (Technical University of Braunschweig)
Venue: Hall of Mirrors, Friedenstein Palace

Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 6:15 pm
“A Fight to the Death: The Nazi Dictatorship against the Orientalist Paul Kahle (1875–1964)”
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Christine Schirrmacher (University of Bonn)
Venue: Hall of Mirrors, Friedenstein Palace

Wednesday, 13 November 2024, 6 pm
“Defence against the ‘Turkish Threat’ in the Early Modern Period: The Casemates at Friedenstein Palace”
Guided tour through the Casemates of Friedenstein Palace with architectural historian Udo Hopf (Weimar)
Meeting point: Entrance to the Casemates (Elsa-Brändström-Weg)

Notice:
We kindly ask you to register in writing for the events taking place at veranstaltungen.fb@uni-erfurt.de or with our registration form.

The events are organised with the kind support of the Friends of the Gotha Research Library.