Monday, August 10, 2015

A Taste Of The Macabre

The Victorian era is covered extensively within the Bytown Museum's collection, including a small statue of the Queen herself.


There seems a slightly macabre sensibility in the Victorian era, and it reflects itself in some of the exhibits- perhaps the ghosts that are said to haunt the museum are drawn to such things. They include a mourning fan, small caskets meant to hold keepsakes such as a lock of hair, or an elaborate wreath containing human hair.


Other items are a bit more conventional, such as the painting, the clock, or the tableware.


Period photographs of the building of the Parliament Buildings, both in terms of the original blocks and the restoration work on Centre Block, can also be found here in the Museum.


I leave off today with this item, a wringer. I took other photos in the Museum of another exhibit, but I'm leaving that for the upcoming theme day in September on Curiousities.

39 comments:

  1. The Victorian age was an interesting time. Love seeing all these trinkets. What will people of the future think of our iPhones and such? ;-)

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  2. I could spend all day in a museum like this. The morbid, oddities are trending. Hadn't seen a mini casket before.

    Janis
    GDP

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  3. That last pic just reminded me of the saying "through the wringer" as in "You really put me through the wringer today". Probably was even more vivid an expression in the days when people really did have wringers. :-)

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  4. Some beautiful, some curious, some quite weird...

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  5. This is very interesing exhibit! Some weird ones...wreath containing human hair!

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  6. Nice to see all these historical items.

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  7. Interesting and curious items indeed, William, thanks for sharing !

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  8. i wonder why the clock & elderly lady painting are conversational? i will have to go look again. i was thinking she had such character. i rather enjoyed her look. i don't like picture much either ... when i am in them i mean. i always look comical ... my mom is great for that. she needs to tell me when she is taking my pics ... i usually have a silly look on my face or whatnot. ha. ha! ( :

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  9. Museums are interesting places to visit. For museum of this sort, especially with weird stuff like mini caskets and locks of hair, I would prefer some company with me.

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  10. It was a rather dark time so some of the exhibits demontstrate the mood. As for the wringer, I'm old enough to have powered the wringer for Mom.

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  11. My idea of a wringer, is a washing machine that had an attachment through which to put your clothes to wring out the water.

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  12. @Cloudia: indeed!

    @Blogoratti: thank you!

    @Halcyon: somehow I doubt iphones will last long enough to end up in museums!

    @Janis: this is the only one I know of.

    @Revrunner: I've been put through the wringer once or twice.

    @VP: and more of that to come, but that'll be for the theme day.

    @Marianne: I thought so myself.

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  13. @Tamago: and more of that to come in the theme day post.

    @Jan: it certainly is.

    @Karl: you're welcome.

    @Beth: she certainly looks serious.

    @Nancy: the ghost stories that accompany this museum are fun. Maybe not so much if one's alone in there at midnight.

    @Linda: thanks!

    @Red: that's true.

    @Linda: my grandmothers would have had those.

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  14. That wringer makes me remember my grandmothers old washing machine. I was just a kid when I watched her use it but I remember it well.

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  15. I have to agree with you that many people of the era certainly had some strange ideas. :)) I LOVE the clock, though.

    Congrats for having endured your punishment at FB!

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  16. It looks as if there were a lot of curiosities there, William!

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  17. I love watching the old photos on an exhibition like this.

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  18. I used to love everything Victorian but I have changed my mind lately...

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  19. I love exhibits like these, though most I've seen include the more conventional wringers, wood stoves, and bits of daily life.

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  20. @Sharon: my great-grandmother would have had something similar. My grandmother ended up with a washing machine that went to her mother when she and my grandfather immigrated.

    @EG: clocks like that really appeal to me. And it's just a matter of time before I get turfed again from Facebook!

    @RedPat: there certainly were.

    @Marleen: me too.

    @Ciel: it depends on the item with me.

    @Norma: thanks!

    @Kay: there's a share of that here too, but the curiousities are what drew my eyes this time out.

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  21. Definitely a bit macabre that area but very, very interesting. Enjoyed your photos in this museum.

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  22. So much fun to imagine living in the past! And I do think the Victorian era held a lot of the macabre!

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  23. An interesting place William but I'll bet you were glad to get out into the sunshine and real world after all that macabre stuff..

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  24. You are digging a lot. do not?.

    Tomás.

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  25. What a fantastic place. It looked like a necklace underneath the wreath of the departed's hair. They mourned differently then.

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  26. @Denise: thanks!

    @Cheryl: so it seems!

    @Geoff: oh, yes. A very different mood in tomorrow's post.

    @Tomas: I might be!

    @Mari: it was a different world.

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  27. I wonder if those paintings are online?! With one son working in the election (BC), the running in Nepean...

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  28. Would love to see the old photos! Can't wait to see the 'curiosity' you found here, the imagination is running wild :)

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  29. Intriguing range of Victorian memorabilia. Yes. I have always felt that keeping a lock of hair is a tad macabre.

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  30. You get to see such interesting things.

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