Several mini lectures have been made at the exhibition Scramble for the Arctic. Curator Diederick Wildeman tells us more about the stories in the exhibition.
mini lecture #1: the mythical North Pole
From the late Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, little was known about the North Pole in Europe. Still, that doesn't mean that the area was entirely out of mind: what would the North Pole look like
mini lecture #2: Nova Zembla: a national epic
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the now world-famous winter expedition on Nova Zembla, led by Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck, was almost forgotten. An epic poem from 1819 changed this.
mini lecture #3: the 'forgotten' expedition
From 1882 to 1883, the Netherlands participated in the first International Polar Year. The Norwegian ship Varna was hired to sail to Western Siberia. The special objects and photographs showcased in the exhibition are a reminder of this expedition.