In the heart of Coimbra’s historic upper town, inside the former Jesuit College, a surprising space was born: the Cabinet of Curiosities at the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, an exhibition that celebrates the diversity and strangeness of the natural and human world as it was perceived before modern museology. Inaugurated in May 2022, the space is inspired by the baroque and pre-scientific cabinets of curiosities, recreating the atmosphere of wonder and mystery that shaped knowledge in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The exhibition brings together around 4,000 pieces from the university’s vast collections, gathered by scientists and explorers over centuries. From exotic animal skeletons, taxidermy specimens, rare minerals, to African and Brazilian masks and cultural artifacts from overseas territories, the collection crosses both geographical and disciplinary borders. Highlights include a sloth from Brazil linked to the philosophical voyage of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira, and a golden lion tamarin from the collection of Dom Pedro V.
At the center of the exhibition space — Carlos Ribeiro Room — old wood and 19th-century furniture give warmth and authenticity. Large suspended skeletons (of a cow, orca, manatee, and crocodile) recreate the visual impact typical of old cabinets. The exhibition follows no taxonomic or chronological order, but rather an aesthetic and intuitive logic, reflecting the collector’s fascination with the bizarre, the beautiful, the rare, and the misunderstood.
Visitors are immersed in a sensory experience where programmed lighting, translucent mirrors, and a discreet soundscape guide the gaze and spark the imagination. With no intrusive labels or didactic explanations, the objects tell visual and symbolic stories, prompting visitors to question, discover, and interpret on their own.
Created with support from the La Caixa Foundation and developed by a multidisciplinary team — with aesthetic curation by Ana Yedros and exhibition design by David Pérez — the Cabinet invests in emotional and aesthetic immersion. Display cases simulate the chaotic mind of an obsessed collector, while baroque still lifes and unexpected objects (like a two-headed mule, Chinese lotus shoes, or Angolan ritual sculptures) form stunning and thought-provoking compositions.
More than a museum, the Cabinet is a journey into the essence of human curiosity — between the natural and the artificial, the scientific and the artistic, the rational and the magical. It is a celebration of the unknown and the marvelous, appealing to all audiences — from tourists to the “Harry Potter generation” — inviting each visitor to become an explorer of forgotten worlds.
