Taking a look at World's oldest Museum of Curiosities

This photograph shows details of how the Ole Worm cabinet (1639) was organised and displayed in his Copenhagen home. Ole Worm (1588-1653) was a Danish physician, linguist and natural philosopher.

In 1605 he set out on a Grand Tour across Europe visiting collections which lasted for a number of years, ending with a period in London. Worm was a self - confessed collector of oddities. He began creating the earliest museum of Curiosities c1639, open to the paying public.

This frontispiece and catalogue of Ole Worm’s museum is displayed in the Cabinet of European Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.