February 8, 2008
WILLIAMSBURG, Va.—The fourth and concluding cycle of “The World of 1607” special exhibition opens February 16 at Jamestown Settlement, a living-history museum of 17th-century Virginia operated by the state’s Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. The one-year exhibition, created for the 400th-anniversary commemoration of the founding of America’s first permanent English colony, has been presented in four distinct cycles, each with its own topics and iconic artifacts. “The World of 1607” focuses on worldwide intellectual and cultural developments during the late 16th and early 17th centuries and portrays Jamestown, Virginia, as part of a larger world of discovery, strife, expansion, innovation, artistic expression and cultural exchange.
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Akan gold necklace, 17th-19th century,
Ghana,Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
collection, gift of the Virginia African
American Forum. |
Sub-Saharan African kingdoms, the Ottomans as a world power and Russia during 1607-1613 are among seven topics featured in the fourth cycle, which continues through April 9. The fourth cycle also considers the beginnings of globalization, scientific achievement in Europe and the Islamic world, and the relationship of church and state.
Ninety objects from museum and private collections in Denmark, Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are exhibited. Among the finely crafted decorative and ceremonial objects, books, maps, scientific instruments, and military and equestrian accouterments are an elaborately carved 16th-century African ivory saltcellar from the National Museum of Denmark; a 17th-century Ottoman musket from the collection of Richard Wagner, Jr.; a 16th-century Russian painting, “Icon of the Mother of God of Yaroslavl,” from the State Historical Museum in Moscow; and a portrait of Emperor Mikhail Feodorovich, the first Romanov tsar, from The State Historical and Cultural Museum-Preserve, “The Moscow Kremlin.”
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Diptych sundial, 1610.
Nuremberg, Germany.
Jamestown-Yorktown
Foundation collection. |
Also on exhibit are a 16th-century map of the world from the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation collection; a 14th-century Persian astrolabe from the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum; a 17th-century globe-shaped ivory compass sundial, similar to the one shown by Captain John Smith to the Powhatan Indians in 1607, from the British Museum; and a 16th-century chalice and paten used by the Reverend Robert Hunt at All Saints Church in Old Heathfield prior to his departure from England for Virginia in 1606 as chaplain of the expedition that established Jamestown.
Jamestown Settlement is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and is located on State Route 31 and the Colonial Parkway, next to Historic Jamestowne, administered by the National Park Service and APVA Preservation Virginia. Admission to Jamestown Settlement is $13.50 for adults and $6.25 for ages 6-12. A combination ticket and annual pass are available with the Yorktown Victory Center, a museum of the American Revolution.
For more information, call (888) 593-4682 toll-free or (757) 253-4838 or visit www.historyisfun.org/World-of-1607-Audio-Minutes.htm, where a series of audio minutes explores several “World of 1607” themes.
