Historical backpipe » About project
About the project
The unique project Historical Bagpipes, the Instruments of Kings as well as Beggars deals with the historical reconstruction of musical instruments according to the historical iconography. The author has focused on the bagpipes of the period from the 13th to the 17th century and the development thereof in the European context. The instrument patterns of the early Gothic come from the Spanish royal manuscript Cantigas de Santa Maria and from the sculpture decoration on the front of the palace of Counts from Champagne in Reims. The high and late Gothic is represented with bagpipes painted on frescos of the castle Karlstein, with bagpipes from the chapel of St. Catherine in Kouřim and with paintings of a late Gothic tarot card game made for the Bohemian king Ladislaus Posthumous. The Renaissance is represented with bagpipes made according to the historical engravings of Albrecht Dürer, the paintings of Pietro Brueghel, the fresco “Dance of Death” in the convent of Dominicans in Swiss Bern and also the sculpture of the Singing Fountain in the Castle of Prague. The Mannerism is represented with instruments on pictures of famous Flemish painters, the engravings of Michael Preatorius and a bagpipe reconstructed from an archaeological founding from a shipwreck sunken in the 17th century in the north of Germany.
The instruments are presented within the project in the lecture and they are shown in the thematic interactive exhibition.
In co-operation with selected masters – instrument makers - studies and research in the field, especially in historical premises, a unique collection has been created which is of an importance exceeding the border of the Czech Republic. The project has been awarded an official patronage of the National Heritage Institution.