Exhibit: Shakespeare’s World: Charting a course through the settings of Shakespeare’s works

The Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, an independent, non-profit institution, will feature a complementary exhibition Shakespeare’s World opening September 3, 2016 and running through February 2017, with associated programming to be announced. William Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories take place in a number of fascinating and often picturesque locations throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, in eras from classical times to the Renaissance.  In this exhibition of forty maps, images and three-dimensional objects, visitors will visit these locales by seeing items from Shakespeare’s lifetime, learning about the world in the time of Shakespeare, and understanding the symbolic role that geography held to the dramas.

Kronborg Castle in Denmark, known as Elsinore in Hamlet, will be highlighted in the exhibition.  A 1629 Dutch map depicting the Danish Kingdom, along with a vignette illustrating “Elsenor,” will be on display.  Complementing this map will be an original print of “Cronenburg” from Samuel von Pufendorf’s 1696 historical atlas.  Geographically-significant quotes from the dramas will set the stage for the visitors, such as Marcellus’ line from Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (Act 1, scene 4).  Visitors will also see Heinrich Bünting’s famous “Clover leaf map” from 1581 and Abraham Ortelius’ 1570 edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

“This is an unusual opportunity for visitors to see rarely displayed treasures from the Boston Public Library’s collection, as well as prized maps from the collection of our founder Norman B. Leventhal, all helping The Bard’s world come alive to visitors,“ said Connie Chin, President of the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center.

Related public programs will take place citywide.