The collection of Bernhard Paludanus One of the most renowned and most-visited cabinets of specimens of the time was to be found in the Dutch town of Enkhuizen. Bernhard Paludanus (1550-1633) was a physician as well as a collector. He had spent several years travelling in Europe and the near East before he settled down in Enkhuizen in 1581. His first collection consisted primarily of items brought back from his travels. This collection was sold 1603-04 to Duke Friedrich of Württemburg-Teck (1557-1608). In the years that followed, Paludanus built up his second collection. It is described in an inventory written by Paludanus himself in Latin and a mixture of German and Dutch. This collection differed considerably from the first. The emphasis was now laid on exotic natural specimens and ethnographic items - material from unfamiliar continents. The Orient - China, Japan, and especially India - was particularly well represented, together with objects from the Americas. This change of theme can probably be traced to Paludan's close association with the Dutch explorer Jan Huygens van Linschoten (1563-1611), who - after 14 years of travelling which included a stopover in Goa from 1583 to 1589 - had taken up residence in Enkhuizen in 1592. Ole Worm was but one of the many who visited and were inspired by Paludanus. References have been made to a considerable number of valuable works of art, which had been presented to Paludanus by princely benefactors. The present whereabouts of these are however unknown, and they may well have been sold by his heirs before the rest of the collection was bought to the Gottorp Kunstkammer in 1651. . To previous page The cabinets of Specimens To next page Museum Wormianum