This travelling exhibition maps the Danube Region of the 17th and 18th century through both detailed and contextual maps of the territories around the river Danube, from its source to its mouth, of its tributaries, ground plans of towns or fortresses, or plans of battles. The exhibition has been presented at several places in Germany, Romania, Hungary and after Bratislava it will be moved to Austria.
"The Blue Danube" is associated not only with the waltz by Johann Strauss, but also with a vast area the backbone of which is the main European flow. However, it was not always like that; no sooner than during military conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, were the vast areas of the Southeast Europe conquered for the emperor. Cartographers gave these unknown countries a shape. They created pictures of the river which connects not only countries, towns, and people, but also two worlds – the West with the East, Orient with Occident.
The picture world of the map creators talks not only about encounters and exchange of thoughts and goods, but also about claims to power, military conflicts, and religious definitions. Until today, they create a powerful picture of “the Christian Europe” and a menacing image of a Muslim enemy. Cartographers connected countries into one whole and separated one territory from another by borders, and rediscovered this area. Despite various border limitations, the wide and complex territory of the Danube Region has remained open and variable as literally flowing and turning to life.
The exhibition is complemented by a catalogue with generously illustrated texts on more than 400 pages. The Slovak National Gallery enriched the exhibition by 21 original works from its own graphics collection from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
SNG will continue a long-term international cooperation with the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe within its international exhibition-publishing project under preparation about art, artistic craftsmanship, culture, and society in the times of the Ottoman expansion to the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The exhibition was financially supported by: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Slovakia, Slovak National Museum - Museum of Carpathian German Culture, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg
Exhibition Curator: Prof. Josef Wolf
Exhibition Organisers: Slovak National Gallery, Slovak National Museum, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe, IDGL Tübingen
Exhibition Co-organisers: Julian Würtemberger – State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Johler – Scientific Director at the Institute of Danube Swabian History and Regional Studies (IdGL), Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zimmermann – Head of Department at the State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, Mgr. Martin Čičo – SNG Graphics Curator