FeAtuRe
(the Cultural and Historical School of
Vienna), which defined the Institute’s
scientific orientation until the 1950s,
except during the Nazi period (1938–
1945). In order to justify its Christian
88
ambitions through ethnological
means, Father Schmidt encouraged
his disciples to document the material
culture and the religious representations
of the native peoples of Central
Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and
South America. He believed that these
cultures had characteristics that were
connected with the doctrines of Christian faith
and supported the dissemination of values
such as monogamy and monotheistic belief.
While this approach is no longer tenable today,
the collections from the Congo, Malaysia,
and Tierra del Fuego that the missionaries assembled
during this time still have great documentary
value and are now displayed in the
new museum’s gallery dedicated to the “Kulturkampf”
(Cultural War) in Vienna.
FiG. 10 (above):
View of the gallery titled
“Collecting Craze. i suffer
from museomania!”
FiG. 11 (left): the Japanese
gallery featuring the collection
of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
in the “neue Hofburg” in
Vienna. 1913 or before.
From leopold Freiherr von Chlumecky,
Karl Glossy, and Felix Freiherr von
Oppenheimer (eds.), Erzherzog Franz
Ferdinand unser Thronfolger. Zum 50.
Geburtstag. Illustriertes Sonderheft der
“Österreichischen Rundschau,” Vienna
and leipzig, 1913, p. 89.
FiG. 12 (right): Drum.
northern Vietnam.
2nd–1st century BC.
Copper alloy. H: 53 cm.
Weltmuseum Wien, inv. 83.624.