📼 Laterna Magica

 

The oldest magic lantern, as far as we know, is located in Leiden, the Netherlands, in the Museum Boerhaave. The projector was made about 1720 by the Dutch instrument maker Jan van Musschenbroek and was once the property of Willem Jacob ‘s Gravesande, professor of physics at the University of Leiden. After his death in 1742 the university bought with foresight his whole collection. The purchase price of the projection lantern was one hundred guilders. By this purchase the Leids Fysisch Kabinet (Physical Cabinet, Leiden) got the best and most complete collection of scientific instruments in the world. About 250 objects from this Cabinet, among them the magic lantern, have been preserved. Together they form one of the most important collections of the Museum Boerhaave.