Guided tour
Alisha Rankin and Julia Voss in conversation at Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
Colorized woodcut depicting botanical medicine, including planting, gathering, distillation, and medical treatment. Adam Lonicer, Kreuterbuch (Frankfurt, 1587)
EXHIBITION
Nature and German History. Faith – Biology – Power
14 November 2025 – 7 June 2026
Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin
The exhibition displays eight-hundred years of German history: The spectrum ranges from Hildegard of Bingen’s concept of “viriditas”, the greening power of creation, in the 12th century to the early anti-nuclear movement in Wyhl and the different concepts of nature in the two Germanys towards the end of the 20th century. Moreover, the co-option of what was considered “natural” was one of the ideological tenets of the Nazi dictatorship, which attempted to bring both “external” and “internal” nature under their power of definition and rule by decreeing innumerable laws. The “Nuremberg Laws” and the “Reich Conservation Act” were both enacted in the same year: 1935.
The time periods are presented in five chronologically arranged rooms with different stations. These stations present events or developments in the form of “vignettes” in which the concept of nature was changed or characterized in a striking way. The exhibition focuses on the changing significance and conceptuality of “Nature” and examines it as a political factor in German history. It traces the historical stages of these developments as well as the politicization and instrumentation of the concept of nature as it unfolded in German history. Who defines what is considered nature? Who can influence it? How does the understanding of internal and external nature vary? And what happens to nature when unforeseen events occur that lead to political actions?
More information about the exhibition can be found here.
The accompanying program is a collaboration of the DHM and the 4A_Lab:
full program, starting on 14 January 2026.
Through the exhibition in tandem with...
In eight dialogical tours the exhibition can be discovered with the DHM team and external guests. The focus is on different topics that are explored in depth as the path leads through selected rooms and objects (ideology, nature conservation, sustainability, animals, technology, food, industry, democracy, and medicine).
11 March 2026, 6.30 p.m.
Alisha Rankin (Tufts University) and Curator Julia Voss on the topic of ‘Medicine’
From ancient healing arts to modern pathogens: ideas about what constitutes ‘health’ and ‘illness’ have changed repeatedly throughout history. Alisha Rankin and Julia Voss explore the beliefs and knowledge behind these ideas, as well as their ideology and instrumentalization.
Alisha Rankin is Professor and Chair of History at Tufts University and a co-editor of the Bulletin of the History of Medicine. Her work focuses on the history of medicine and science in early modern Europe, with a particular focus on questions of experiment, expertise and authority and on the use and circulation of materia medica. She is the author of two award-winning books, Panaceia's Daughters: Noblewomen as Healers in Early Modern Europe (Chicago, 2013) and The Poison Trials: Wonder Drugs, Experiment, and the Battle for Authority in Renaissance Science (Chicago, 2021), alongside two edited collections and multiple articles. Currently she is co-editing the early modern volume of the Cambridge History of Medicine and working on projects on surgical illustration and on patient testimonials.
The accompanying program is free of charge, registration is required: ticket.dhm.de
Illumination of a tree-like plant emerging from a computational table. The table is designed to help calculate the date of Easter using dominical letters and golden numbers. Psalter, southern Germany or Switzerland, c. 1450. Tufts University Special Collections, Ms. 20, fol. 7v
Partners
Deutsches Historisches Museum
Unter den Linden 2
10117 Berlin
Entrance:
Pei-Bau
Hinter dem Gießhaus 3
10117 Berlin
Notice
This event will be documented photographically and/or recorded on video. Please let us know if you do not agree with the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz using images in which you might be recognizable for event documentation and public relation purposes (e.g. social media).