By Claudia von Duehren
The exhibition “UFO 1665. The Battle of Stralsund” reports on celestial phenomena from art history and their media distribution.
It was April 8, 1665. Six fishermen were fishing for herring off Stralsund. At 2 p.m., the men watch as flocks of birds in the sky turn into warships and engage in thunderous air combat. A short time later, a disc appears in the sky above the Sankt Nikolai church – a UFO?
With the exhibition “UFO 1665. The Battle of Stralsund”, the art library is now showing the development of celestial phenomena in art history and their processing in the media. “Today, of course, one wonders what the fishermen smoked or drank,” says curator Moritz Wullen (56) with a smile.
The first ideas of airships may have inspired the drawings of the sky ships in Stralsund Photo: Berlin State Library
Two days later, after the sailors had fled and described their experiences, trembling with fear and pain, leaflets and newspapers were full of the events.
Fascinated by the events in Stralsund, the director of the art library has compiled 50 examples of historical depictions. But the engravings with strange signs in the sky, airships, space rockets and flying discs do not testify to belief in aliens.
Only 15 years after the events did the copper engraving with the experiences of the herring fishermen appear in the book by Erasmus Francisci Photo: Berlin State Library
“No one believed in extraterrestrials back then. People saw the sky as a communication surface with God. The apparition predicted an impending catastrophe,” explains Moritz Wullen.
Many heavenly miracles are easy to explain today: desert dust in the rain became rain of blood in depictions, which was traced back to the sufferings of Christ. Optical phenomena in the refraction of sunlight were found in drawings and engravings as heavenly miracle signs. Weather phenomena were presented as divine warnings.
The book Serious and Important Considerations Of Robinson Crusoe covers space tourism in the 17th century Photo: State Museums in Berlin
Only at the end of the 17th century was the divine handwriting questioned. “The thought that even a divine being can only work within physical limits gained more and more space. This then increased the space for depicting extraterrestrial aliens,” reports the art historian.
Until August 27, 2023, the exhibition will be accompanied by workshops and discussions with, among others, the UFO researcher Hakan Kayal. Info: smb.museum.de