Museum Stobaeanum: Baroque science at the margin of academia

The Museum Stobaeanum was founded at Lund University, Sweden, in 1735. At the time, Lund was one of Scandinavia’s smallest academies, struggling for survival, and the creation of the museum was part of a modernization process intended to bring the curriculum up to a par with other European universities. The result, however, was one of the last classic Wunderkammern in Europe, reflecting ideals that would be superseded a few years later. This essay attempts to contextualize the founding of the museum by focusing on the influences of the creator, Kilian Stobaeus. Best known as the teacher of Carl Linnaeus, Stobaeus not only introduced empirical natural history to Lund but was also influenced by physico-theological ideas that were gaining popularity in 1730s Scandinavia. By examining Stobaeus’ textual sources, it is possible tentatively to explore how old practices and new ideals could coexist and merge within the culture of ‘Baroque’ science.