The Book of Marvels: Wonder and Fear in the Middle Ages

This exhibition explores the text and images of the Book of the Marvels of the World, a manuscript made in the 1460s that weaves together tales of places both near and far. 

Told from the perspective of a medieval armchair traveler in northern France, the global locations are portrayed as bizarre, captivating, and sometimes dangerously different. 

Additional objects in the exhibition highlight how the overlapping sensations of wonder and fear helped create Western stereotypes of the “other” that still endure today.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website