Medieval Instruments of Torture

violina-sramote

Organised by: Mondo Company (Gdynia, Poland) and the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia)

Venue: Archaeological museum in Zagreb, N. Š. Zrinski Square 19
Duration: February 19th 2011 - June 19th 2011
Exhibition author: Piotr Buczkowski
Project coordinator: Maja Bunčić

Scope: 54 exhibits with accompanying illustrations and descriptions in Croatian and English
Type: thematic

Subject: The exhibition displays a number of reconstructed instruments of torture used in criminal proceedings from the Middle Ages until the 18th century throughout Europe. In addition to instruments whose use resulted in severe bodily damage and eventually led to death, on display are also those used for minor transgressions, where torture was limited to inflicting humiliation. Some of the exhibits include the famous Virgin of Nuremberg, The Rack, The Witch's Chair, as well as the masks of infamy, frocks of penance and the like.

The exhibition studies the phenomenon of torture, presenting it as a problem existing in our European civilisation, with the aim of drawing attention to the fact that the use of torture is not confined to the Middle Ages and that it is not connected with a particular world-view or religion but is a universal problem. It is worth reminding ourselves how different from our own were the economic and sociological contexts, as well as the philosophical climate of those times, which were all circumstances that certainly stimulated a broader and crueller application of torture.

Admission price:

  • 30 kn - adults
  • 20 kn - children, schoolchildren, students, senior citizens
  • 15 kn - group visits