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Exhibition notice: the Blaschkas' Sculptures from the Sea at the Natural History Museum, Tring, from 21 July - 30 September 2008
Squid, anemones and jellyfish carefully crafted in glass are the focus of a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum at Tring from July 21 until the end of September.
The models were made by the Blaschka family glassmakers of Dresden, Germany, in the nineteenth century and this is the first time for decades they will have been on display. The spectacular creations still amaze scientists with their accuracy, yet Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf never passed on their specialist techniques.
The museum's Blaschka glass models were originally used as teaching aids and were on public display. However, pollution damage, metal corrosion and salt migration over the past 100 years have made them very fragile. Three years of careful conservation work at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington mean a selection of the models are now stable enough to be transported to Tring and exhibited.
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“It's a real privilege to be able to display these marvellous models,” said Paul Kitching, Museum Manager at the Natural History Museum at Tring. “With their striking colours and spectacular forms, we hope our visitors will be inspired by these delicate glass creations, which combine scientific accuracy with artistic flair.”
A series of children's activities to accompany the exhibition will be running during the summer. Events include Brilliant Blaschka Bookmarks, Clothes Peg Creatures and Fantastic Filtering Fanworms.
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The Natural History Museum at Tring opened in the late 1800s to house the collections of Lionel Walter, second Baron Rothschild and offers outstanding examples of nineteenth-century taxidermy at its very best.
The museum was bequeathed to the nation and became part of the Natural History Museum in 1938. The public galleries were modernised, but the fascinating character of the museum has been retained.
More than 100,000 visitors a year enjoy a glimpse into the fascinating world of a Victorian collector, where they can see a huge variety of wild, weird and wonderful specimens from across the animal kingdom - from armadillos to zebras.
The site at Tring also houses the stunning Rothschild library and the Natural History Museum's ornithological collection, which has been based there since the early 1970s.
