Travel & Collections

S.M. Schiff Aurora, k.k. Kriegsmarine

The collections of the ship Aurora from the years 1886-96, now housed in the Weltmuseum Vienna, contain over 400 objects from the Caribbean, Oceania, Africa and Asia, as well as photographs. The exemplary investigation of some provenances and the presentation of the activities, functions and intentions of the imperial royal navy (k.k. Kriegsmarine), building on the last research project (voyage of the ship Frundsberg 1884-85), are the two main goals of the project.

Knife, bought in Aden (Yemen), Inv. No. 29.558 © KHM-Museumsverband

About the project

The ethnographic objects were accessioned in the years 1888, 1892 and 1896 in the anthropological-ethnographic department of the k.k. Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum in Vienna and are thus part of the holdings of the Weltmuseum Vienna today. Part of the research is the sketching of a more holistic institutional picture of the collection, which was divided up on the basis of scientific-historical and political structures of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. Beyond the exemplary presentation of the voyages of the Aurora at the end of the 19th century, the networking of various European actors within the navy, such as the ship's crew, museum institutions, as well as actors on site, such as consuls or private individuals, will be investigated.