A travelling exhibition consisting of 15 panels with images and texts, which can be expanded to include replicas of historical clothing and an accompanying educational programme.
This exhibition was created by the East Bohemia Museum in Pardubice in collaboration with the University of Pardubice. It forms part of a year-long series of events related to the Pernštejn family, held to commemorate 500 years of the Renaissance in Bohemia. The exhibition, authored by Pavel Marek and Tomáš Libánek, shows how noblewomen in the modern era contributed to the formation of European cultural identity. It uses the example of the women from the Pernštejn family – whose history is inextricably linked with Pardubice Castle. The exhibition was based on Pavel Marek’s book of the same name.
An English-language version of the exhibition was presented for the first time in September 2020 at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The choice of venue was not by chance; the last generation of the Pernštejns was a truly European family, with relatives scattered across the continent from the Pyrenees to Italy and Prague. Thanks to these international links, the Pernštejns’ palace in Prague became an important gateway through which many cultural influences from the Mediterranean lands first entered Bohemia. These influences were not only in the domain of high culture (literature, music and art); they also encompassed various aspects of everyday life, such as gastronomy and fashion. The exhibition opening included a display of historic clothing from the 16th century, presented by Martina Hřibová.
The travelling exhibition The Pernštejn women and Europe forms part of a year-long series of events related to the Pernštejn family, held to commemorate 500 years of the Renaissance in Bohemia.
Topics of the panels:
The Habsburgs and their empire
Alliances through marriage
The Pernštejns become a European family
Language learning
Portraits
Fashion at the Spanish court
The glory of Spain
The taste of the Mediterranean
The Pernštejn library
Pietas austriaca – Habsburg piety
Goods from Bohemia
The social network
The Pernštejn lands
Technical details:
The exhibition consists of 15 panels with dimensions 60 x 120 cm (plastic, with a hanging-rail on the reverse side), three panels incorporating an activity (a rotating window with portraits of the Pernštejn women, examples of historic textile materials, a pomander with an example of a solid perfume that would have been used by the Pernštejn women).
The exhibition can be expanded to include replicas of Renaissance clothing, other interactive features and materials for accompanying educational programmes (language learning, fashion and style, family relations).
Language versions: Czech, English, Spanish, Italian
Contacts:
- Tomáš Libánek, exhibition curator, Director of the Museum of East Bohemia in Pardubice, libanek@vcm.cz, (+420) 775 608 078
- Kateřina Procházková Skůpová, exhibition loan arrangements, Museum of East Bohemia in Pardubice, katerina.prochazkova@vcm.cz, (+420) 720 934 869
- Pavel Marek, exhibition curator, Head of the Institute of Historical Sciences, Faculty of Arts, University of Pardubice, pavel.marek@upce.cz, (+420) 607 724 979
- Martina Hřibová, replicas of Renaissance clothing, Tomáš Baťa University, Zlín, mhribova@utb.cz, (+420) 576 035 175
