Panoptikum Heinricha Trabera w Drohobyczu w 1913 roku

Abstract

The article describes the arrival of Heinrich Traber’s Panopticum in Drogobych in the spring of 1913. The author attempts to reconstruct this event relying on the information found in the preserved catalog (Guide to the Heinrich Traber’s Anatomical Museum and Panopticum). An additional context mentioned in the essay is work practice of Traber, especially years 1898-1904, when he was running the „Kosmos” Panopticum in Prague where he arranged popular freaks shows. Probably after he had to close down his business, he set out on a tour with his collection, resigning from the display of „human peculiarities.” The main question is what Schulz could see in Traber’s traveling museum, if he had seen it at all. Basing on the catalog, we know that in the museum there were anatomical preparations and wax figures. It is interesting that in one of Schulz’s short stories, “The Spring,” there is a wax figures cabinet and two surnames of historical figures that might have been taken from Traber’s exhibition: Alfred Dreyfus and Luigi Luccheni (they are also mentioned in the guide). On the other hand, there is no reason to insist that Schulz was inspired by Traber’s panopticum when he was writing his story, because the tradition of wax figures cabinet was commonly known in his times and in the art and literature of modernism the motifs of puppet, wax figure, and marionette were very popular.