Over the weekend, my wife and I were with her brother, who is a museum curator. As such, he gets invited to places not generally on the tour lists. Recently he was in a Swedish castle that was closed up but maintained for 400 years — until NOW. It is a museum, apparently in a city north of Stockholm. The family that own it just left for the season one year 400 years ago, and never came back to live. there was a staff there to protect things, and there was never a fire or major theft. The ogiginal bed linens, table linens, kitche utensels, and so forth were never updated. All of them are there.
SO ARE THE TOOLS. According to my brother in law, the chisels, planes and the like in the castle workshops are just where they were left — on the benches — 400 years ago.
Having tools in context — not just a chest of tools from a period, but the entire workshop in a time capsle, could offer unparalleled insight into 17th century northern European craftsmanship.
Is anyone else aware of this? Is anyone out there interested in research to the extent that they would like to know more? I can get the details if there is legitimate interest.
Joe
Replies
Is it open to the public at all, or likely to be open to the public in the near future? It would be fascinating to see.
Apparently it is open to the public, at least in part. I'll have to find out more details. The whole place is indeed frozen in time. Quite remarkable, from the description.
Joe
This would be a remarkable episode for the History Channel. Please mention it to your Brother-in-law.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
400 years is a long time to pay for maintenance on a house you don't use.
Fascinating. Kind of like a time capsule.
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"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
You'll find the tools well used, not spit shined and polished and put on a shelf to admire I can promise you that. I doubt there will be hardly any redundancy once the number of woodworkers who used the shop is known. There will be no extraneous anything, just what was necessary to get the work done which by the way will probably be exquisite.
I'd love to see some pics and info on the whole house. A "time capsule" of life at that time would be very informative.
Ran into a similar situation years ago while buying "antiques" with my father, a dealer. Went to a small town and visited a farm where the man had died and the wife was selling out. She said that there were some "old trucks" in the barn. Went in and found 10 Model T Fords, 3 converted to trucks, and one for parts, and the others up on blocks with all original tires and wheels. This was 1962. The old man had driven only "T's," and when they stopped making them, had bought these to last him over the years. He stopped driving in about 1960, according to her.
Kinda weird steppiing back in time like that...
I have a good friend who's from Sweden, goes back there several times a year for business and to visit family. I can ask her what she can find out.
Her dad's family were sailboat racers (whatever the technical term for that is), and when her son was 9 yrs old or so, he built a 2-person boat "from scratch" as it were for the grandson, based on winning design/blueprints from his brother IIRC. Gorgeous boat, incredible workmanship, he was in his 70's then.
Good idea., Jamie. I'll try to remember to email Lee and ask him more of the details. That might help your friend find the place. Sweden has not been invaded or meaningfuly attacked since the early 19th century, and was not bombed in the great wars, so the quantity of well-preserved old stuff is quite amazing.
I heard about all of this over dinner with several people, and couldn't go into it as much as I would have preferred. Lee was very impressed. He is a textile conservator (curator of the asian collection at the National Textile Museum in DC), and says that the 17th century textiles in that place are near perfectly preserved, in context -- that is, in their original drawers and closets. He says that in the workshop, many of the tools are still lying on the benches where workmen put them down.
Joe
Joe,By any chance are you talking about Skoklosters Castle?
You know, it could be, but hanged if I can remember the name. Where is that castle?
Joe
It sounds very much like the castle you described. Here are the visiting hours:
Guided tours are conducted May through August, daily on the hour from 11am to 4pm; in September Monday through Friday at 1pm and on Saturday and Sunday at 1, 2, and 3pm; closed off-season.
I just looked at it on the web, and from the location and description -- especially the comment about gilt leather hangings, I am 99% sure that you are right. The description of the workshops also matches.
I wonder why we do not see and hear more about this place, given the degree of attention that we give to a few admittedly wonderful, English tool chests?
Joe
Skokloster Castle has been a Swedish National Museum since 1967. Don and Anne Wing have shown photos of some of the Skokloster planes in a couple of their publications. Their monograph The Case For Francis Purdew, published in 1998, was the first place I saw photos of the planes. These are Dutch planes, some are made similar to the British style, and were purchased in Amsterdam in 1644. Some of the planes are dated 1663 and 1644 and the museum has the original invoice dated 1 July 1664. The planes were sold by Jan Arendtz. Jan Arends according to Four Centuries of Dutch Planes and Planemakers by Gerrit van der Sterre.
Contrary to the fairy tale, there have been a number of people studying the castle for a long time. This isn't to say the tools aren't incredibly historically significant. There must be a complete inventory but I haven't seen one. The molding planes I've seen pictured suggest a very large range of tools--just more to dispel the absurd popular notion that everything was so primitive. Just look at photos of the castle itself. It's a pretty sophisticated bit of architecture. I can't understand the apparent need to see this era as one step beyond a flint ax.
http://lsh.it-norr.com/default.asp?id=1787&refid=2540
The Wings also discuss these planes in their book Early Planemakers of London.
I certainly never suggested that either the castle or the tools were primitive. I've seen pix of the castle, heard my curator brother in law describe it -- and found it fascinating which is why I mentioned it here. As a matter of fact, although I have not personally been in this castle, I have been in other Swedish Renaissance castles. They can be quite magnificant, with remarkable workmanship. In fact, I don't know many people who would argue that the tools or products of the Renaissance were primitive. Sweden's greatest artifact is a wooden ship, the Vasa, that is contemporaneous with this Skokloster Castle, and its workmanship is superb. I spent some hours viewing it from all angles and have a friend who actually spends quite a bit of time aboard directing conservation efforts.
Of course, the fact is that craft skills were quite highly developed well before the 17th century. Late Gothic art and craftsmanship is quite sophisticated and can be breathtaking, and it can date back centuries before Skokloster Castle was built. In his book civilization, Kenneth Clarke referrs to the "almost irritatingly" perfect skill of hand of the late Gothic craftsman. There is much well perserved late Gothic in Sweden as well, and fine work from even earlier.
Not sure where the fairy tale comment came from, either. Clearly you are right that the castle has been open for some time as a museum. However, there are many sections that are not public. My brother in law was the guest of the curators, had the after-hours run of the place and saw things not shown to normal visitors. It is almost always the case, BTW, that only anbout 20% of a museum's collection on display at any given time. I myself have been fortunate enought to have been allowed "behind the walls" of several museums -- and that is where the real fun is.
Whatever the case, there is still much to be learned, and many studies to be done involving those tools and workshops.
Cheers!
Joe
Oops, I guess I should have changed the "to box" in my last post. Sorry, Joe. My fairy tale and primitive comments were more intended for Charles and others who post around here who seem eager to make judgments without much evidence.I do wish those who seem to prefer this primitive notion would look at the work of the 17th and 18th Centuries. It doesn't take much to see it was highly evolved and sophisticated. I don't understand why, with such evidence, some want the tools to be so minimal. The reality is the tools had to be as mature and evolved as the work being done at the time. Skokloster Castle like the Hubble Telescope represent tools available at the time they were made.
To echo Larry's comment: ...do wish those who seem to prefer this primitive notion would look at the work of the 17th and 18th Centuries. It doesn't take much to see it was highly evolved and sophisticated.
I am currently reading The Artisan of Ipswich by Tarule. The subject of the book, one Thomas Dennis, immigrated from England to Ipswich in 1663. The man's work, especially his carving, is wonderful. Truly a continent away from Europe and its relative "sophistication," Dennis does wonderful work with tools we would use if they appeared on our benches.
Take care, Mike
Mike:
My copy of ARTISAN just arrived yesterday. I am really looking forward to it.
J
Aha, I see. We agree, then and no harm done.
You know, I have often wondered about this very point -- the concept of former ages being "primitive." There were certainly primitive periods, like, say, the centuries following the fall of the western empire -- but even then, craftsmanship could be very good as the displays in the British Museum demonstrate -- notably the Sutton Hoo ship burial artifacts. As far as woodworking goes, there is quite a bit still extant from the 11th century onward, and a little before that, While the aesthetic is certainly different from today's, the craftsmanship can be of a very high order indeed. And that is just in the west. In the east, India, China, Korea, Japan, marvelous things exist. Looking back further still, who has not admired the skill of 3,000 years of Egyptian craftsmen?
SO, where does this notion of primitiveness come from? I am not sure, but it does not make much sense. In many ways, hand crafts today are more primitive than in much of the past.
Joe
Larry, there's not a damn*ed thing in my post that says anything about primitive. I used the terms 'well-used' and 'lack of redundancy', and 'nothing extraneous.'
Who taught you to read?
Edited 5/9/2007 9:29 am ET by ThePosterFormerlyKnownAs
Sounds like an excellent idea for a major spread from FWW with pictures, plans of the shop area, etc. along with any examples of the things they made. It would be interesting to see what is the minimum we really need to build what we want when we substitute experience and skill for tools. But then "my man in brown" would stop visiting me every week with a new package. :>)!
"Sounds like an excellent idea for a major spread from FWW with pictures, plans of the shop area, etc. along with any examples of the things they made. " I sent a note to Matt and Mark this morning, hopefully they'll pass the info along to the magazine editors! Would love to see a big article on it.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Thank you. I did not know whom to contact.
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