Worlds of birds

The desire to preserve a piece of nature and present it as life pictures in a separate "showcase" has a long tradition, which was already realised in the curiosity cabinets of the early 19th century.
These life pictures are known as dioramas, which show as detailed a section of nature as possible and are often additionally framed by a semicircular, painted background.
In the heyday of dioramas, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Museum Koenig and the taxidermists it employed played an important role. Artists in their field achieved a level of mastery that made the Museum Koenig and its dioramas famous far beyond the country's borders.

The small bird dioramas shown here have a chequered history behind them. The oldest ones date from 1911 - in other words, from a time when Alexander Koenig had already moved into his Ornithological Museum, which was completed in 1900.