Wokół sprzedaży gdańskiego muzeum doktorów Gottwaldów
About the Sale of the Museum of the Gottwalds

Johann Philipp Breyne and His Correspondents

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the correspondence between Johann Philipp Breyne and scholars from the German-speaking territories of Europe and England interested in purchasing the exhibits from the Museum of the Gottwalds in Gdansk after the death of its second owner Johann Christoph Gottwald (1670-1713). The Museum of the Gottwalds was set up in the second half of the 17th century by Christoph Gottwald from Gdansk (1636-1700), a medical doctor and a doctor of Philosophy; after his death, it was inherited by his son, who was also a medical doctor. It constituted one of the biggest collections of natural exhibits in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early modern period and one of the most outstanding collections in Gdansk. In 1716, part of the collection was moved to Petersburg, where it gave rise to a collection of minerals which was part of the local cabinet of curiosities. At present it is kept in the Mineralogical Museum under the name of A.E. Fersman in Moscow.

• Details
• Contents