Inside a forgotten 16th Century Alchemy Laboratory

a reply to: Tsuro
From what I have researched thus far, no one has mentioned anything contained or preserved there. I'm sure if there were relics, they were collected very quickly by TPTB..

originally posted by: timewalker
a reply to: intrptr
Yes they were the DARPA of the day!

More like magicians. When they were smelting iron or refining metals and forging there was lots of fire and smoke. The glow at night and the sounds of clanging and banging metal, must have presented a fearful sight to locals. What the hell are they doing over there, raising the devil?

a reply to: timewalker

This thread takes me back several years, timewalker, thanks for hitting an nostalgic ATS sweet-spot.

a reply to: Bybyots

Thank you Bybyots!

I thought it would be a nice break, kind of like catching a classic movie on TCM during election season.

Jessie we gota cook some more

what is pretty interesting to me about this is that the painting looks to me like what peoples faces look like after smoking dmt

Soo did they finnaly learned how to turn metals into gold?

I love alchemy or.... now, modern science and chemistry. The book "The Philosopher's Stone" written by Peter Marshall is an amazing in depth look at alchemy. Changed my view of history in some way..

John Emsley, Sunday Times "Marshall is no desk top researcher, but to write the book embarked on a journey in the footsteps of some of the key practitioners, a quest which takes him to Beijing, Egypt, France, Spain and beyond and leads to encounters with many contemporary philosophers, alchemists and scientists, all searching not so much for fame or fortune but for the ultimate prize of enlightenment. This appealing combination of travelogue and inner journey is well served by the author's friendly, conversational tone and his ability to make sometimes complex ideas thoroughly accessible without short changing the reader. Myth, magic, religion and intrigue come together here to offer an intriguing alternative view of the history of civilisation's development."

Authors Page

Direct Amazon Link (Unsponsored or Endorced)

I'm sorry but it's a load of bunkum - being an antiques expert I can tell you that image showing the table - the table is completely and totally wrong for the period, there would NOT still be rolled up parchemnts (or paper as it looks to me), and the wine glass with a bit of red liquid still in it?

It's a guff story and shows the dangers of beleiving anything you see in any news outlet.

a reply to: timegentlemen

Everything in there is a recreation for the museum exhibit. The place was empty.

originally posted by: timegentlemen
I'm sorry but it's a load of bunkum - being an antiques expert I can tell you that image showing the table - the table is completely and totally wrong for the period, there would NOT still be rolled up parchemnts (or paper as it looks to me), and the wine glass with a bit of red liquid still in it?

It's a guff story and shows the dangers of beleiving anything you see in any news outlet.

I was thinking something similar. Doesn't it all oddly look like a scene made out of clay? Like everything's about to melt. Not cuz of antiquity, but because it looks...furnished like that. Why were old timey "Candle" looking lights put in and made dusty looking and stuff hanging off them? That makes no sense why they'd do that just for lighting the place up.

Classic nostalgic ATS material here.

S&F for a breath of fresh air away from political madness and depressing news.

Fake? Naaah OP said the items are a re creation.

Regardless this took my mind to a fun place.

a reply to: GoShredAK

Thank you GoShredAK. You can tell the members that actually read and not just look at the pretty pictures.

a reply to: timewalker

Thank you for your fascinating post. I've lived in Prague for over 20 years and remember the floods very well, but to my chagrin I did not even know about this particular discovery. However, as I work in Prague's downtown and the Speculum Alchemiae site is only about 20 minutes' walk from my workplace, I must go there and check it out!

I have to admit that I'm dubious about some of the claims re the tunnels. I could accept that there might be one from that building to the Old Town Hall, as they are only about 400 metres apart and the ground there is pretty flat. But a tunnel to Prague Castle? That's another matter entirely, because besides being about 1.6 km away as the crow flies, it's across the other side of the River Vltava and at some elevation on what is a rather rocky hill. As far as I know, no-one had the technology to successfully tunnel under the river back then. But okay, I'll see. Nothing's impossible, after all.

Prague has many fascinating places and being a fairly compact city, it's not too arduous to do a walking tour to see many of them. But like many old cities, there are always little jewels hidden away here and there. So, this is another one.

a reply to: timegentlemen
Maybe you should read more carefully before jumping in to post derogatory comments. Just following up on the name of the place via Google would have quickly told you it's a museum.

The place itself is quite genuine, but the items on display are a recreation to give people some idea of how it might have looked. It is a privately-run museum, more in the line of public curiosity than pure academic accuracy, so it does not need to be totally precise down to the last detail.

As for your allegedly expert comments, rolled up parchments can survive for a long time in the right environment. None were found in this case, but that doesn't mean such finds cannot occur. Maybe you have heard of the "Dead Sea Scrolls"? These parchments (the majority of vellum) were found in caves, where they had lain for something in excess of 2,000 years.

As for the wine glass with red liquid in it: well, didn't that give you enough of a hint that this was a display, not an original "find" of in-place materials?

a reply to: JustMike

Thanks JustMike for the reply and compliment.

I would love to visit this place one day. A fascinating subterranean realm with an even more fascinating history. Not knowing the lay of the land so to speak, I didn't research much into the locations mentioned. But who knows? They were Alchemist and magicians after all.

Maybe something for a local to research a little further.

I would love to know about your visit. Maybe some first hand pictures?

a reply to: timewalker
I'm certainly hoping to visit there fairly soon. And I'll most definitely try to get some pictures, even if with my rather old camera. But more than that, I'll be asking about those tunnels!

This area in and around Prague has been inhabited for such a long time that they are still discovering old places. Not just forgotten basements in older buildings, but even older archaeological sites going back to the Bronze age. One was found just a few hundred metres from where I live when they built a new football stadium a decade or so ago. Ancient times and cultures have always fascinated me. Though my recent writing has focused on the Egyptians, I am also interested in Bronze age cultures in other places, including around where Iive, and have visited some of the old sites.

But anyway, I digress. After I've done my visit I can get back here and post whatever I have learned.

bedlam love the picture I'm going to reutilize that thanks for sharing

a reply to: Lovessover

why did you write this ?

a reply to: JustMike

Great thread. JustMike, did u get a chance to visit and take pics? I would love to live in a historical city. I think i would always be out with a metal detector looking for artifacts and treasure.