Exhibition Witchcraft, unusual objects and fantastic creatures
Exhibition located in a central location temporarily in Toledo until October 15, 2018, on Calle Hombre de Palo, near the Cathedral, it shows us up to 300 pieces, including mummies, instruments of torture, magic potions or diabolical pacts They are all pieces endowed with a special magnetism that sorcerers used to impress and suggest those who resorted to their services or that the inquisitors used to punish heretics, blasphemers or, simply, undesirable in the eyes of a savage society, part of the collection of an Italian merchant. A very interesting exhibition to complete the visit to the great monuments of the city.
The origin of this exhibition is the collection of an Italian merchant (early 19th century), from whose diary six characters were chosen, who divide the exhibition into sections that deal with the arts of witches, their culture and their world among the 16th and 20th centuries, from a more ethnological than esoteric approach with the aim that the visitor varies that reviled vision that exists about sorceresses and healers.
The exhibition of these objects in the exhibition opened on September 15, 2017, can be visited every day of the week between 10:00 and 22:00, and until 23:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays. From November 2017, these hours will change, from Monday to Thursday and Sundays it will be from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Fridays, Saturdays and bridges from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Catapults and siege engines
The Catapults and Siege Machines exhibition places the visitor before the world of technology in antiquity from the exhibition of 28 machines and models made of oak and chestnut wood, such as approche machines, assault towers, battering rams, cranes or bits. It is divided into three historical blocks: Greece, Rome and the Middle Ages, from the 5th century BC. until the 15th century AD . These are basically large pieces, such as the 5-meter high ram and more than 200 kg in weight, which show the relationships between these siege instruments and civil technology. The exhibition also delves into the foundations of engineering and technology of antiquity from the perspective of besieged and besiegers. In addition to the siege war, it is explained how these machines were the vehicle with which the scientists of each era applied their knowledge.
The head of the organizing company, Francisco Molina, of ’Toledo Cultural Expositions’, stressed that this exhibition will serve primarily to show something as human as the development of man’s intelligence over many centuries, in addition to exhibiting its humanization , progress and evolution.
As Francisco Molina explained, the first flexible arc catapult was invented by the Greek Dionisio ‘El Viejo’ and incorporates a fork that achieves that the shot can be horizontal or vertical. Half a century later, Philip of Macedonia financed a more precise one that managed to overcome the simple arches in 500 meters, thanks to the tension springs.
In addition to the large-scale pieces, it includes other objects such as reproductions of reliefs and archaeological pieces and illustrations of representative sieges from different historical periods.
The exhibition can be visited all year round at the Posada de la Hermandad, from 10.30 to 19.30.
Ancient instruments of torture
The Alfonso XII Exhibition Hall has become an essential space in any visit to the city of Toledo thanks to the exhibition Ancient instruments of torture. The exhibition reviews the infamous Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition and the methods it used to obtain confessions. In this way, around sixty pieces and instruments from antique dealers and art markets that were used in these terrible practices are exhibited.
The exhibition set analyzes how our country was meager in torture instruments, mainly using the garrucha, the toque and the colt, along with other torments in which fire was used. Along with these three are exhibited, for example, a selection of execution machines (the guillotine, the post, the hangman’s ax.), Of torture (the anal pear, the head smasher, the spiked collar, the wheel.) And pieces of public mockery (the pillory in barrel, the sambenitos, the infamous masks). The exhibition is completed with a selection of texts and engravings that allow the Court to be contextualized in a determined period of time.