Chapter 370 (No subscription required)
At the Royal Shipyard in Trieste, Ernst personally took a look at the Archduke Ferdinand. It was indeed a big thing in this era.
Ernst himself didn't know much about ships, but he didn't have to worry about the Austrians deceiving him. At the same time, technical staff from the Trieste Shipyard in Hechingen also participated in the supervision. This ship was the future command ship of Ferdinand. Most people would not dare to offend the emperor's younger brother. Seeing the rapidly taking shape of Archduke Ferdinand, Ernst was very satisfied and said, "Let's go!"
This time Ernst went to East Africa and brought a lot of things with him, including many of his collections at Hohenzollern Castle, most of which were antiques.
In Europe, Ernst missed a lot of good things, which were cultural relics purchased from returning soldiers from Britain and France, especially calligraphy and paintings, which foreigners could not appreciate, and there was a possibility of counterfeiting in calligraphy and painting. Small, the West currently lacks such technical talent.
In Ernst's collection, "Pictures of Proverbs of Women's History" was bought for less than two shillings, which can be considered a "high price" for recycling.
The British and French soldiers had no idea of the value of the rich cultural relics, and most of them were sold as trophies. Ernst, on the other hand, bought them in wholesale. Currently, he has collected more than 400 paintings alone.
There were even more books, a typical one of which was "Yongle Dadian". Ernst had about five hundred copies in his hands, all bought by the pound.
However, Ernst's cultural attainments and appreciation were not very high, but Ernst knew that anything that could flow out of the Old Summer Palace and the Forbidden City was good.
Most of the French cultural relics flowed into the hands of Ernst. In this regard, we must thank the internationalist spirit of the people in the old area.
Compared with the British army, which was accustomed to expeditions, invasions and plunder, the French army, which also returned home in "triumph", received quite different "treatment" at home.
On the one hand, most French domestic newspapers and media are willing to publicly disclose these "trophies" obtained from the Old Summer Palace. Related information is everywhere, and the "inside story" of these "trophies" and this aggressive war is constantly emerging.
On the other hand, a considerable part of the French people felt ashamed and angry at the French army's plundering, and therefore criticized it. Among them, the most famous criticism came from the famous French writer and literary giant Victor Hugo, who called the Old Summer Palace "China's Palace of Versailles + the Louvre + the National Library of France" and an unparalleled precious treasure of human civilization. The behavior of General Montauban, the commander of the marauding French army, was an atrocity that destroyed human civilization and was a scandal that brought shame to France.
Regarding the "trophies" from the looting of the Old Summer Palace, public opinion in France was divided and confrontational, and the resulting social impact was also divided into two.
On the one hand, newspapers and periodicals continued to report in-depth information from all parties, leaving behind a large number of historical documents with valuable research value.
On the other hand, the French officers and soldiers who returned home one after another put their "trophies" at auctions to cash in, and were unwilling to keep these controversial "souvenirs". Therefore, there were many auctions and auctions. Table of contents.
Ernst took the opportunity to buy a batch of them, but most of them were Qing court utensils, but these fancy things did not actually fit Ernst's aesthetic taste.
In particular, enamel was not only liked by the Qing court but also by foreigners, but Ernst felt that it was not as good as the Ru kiln he had.
Moreover, the price of this thing is much higher than that of Ru kiln. Ernst found that the more flashy cultural relics at auction, the higher the price.
All those objects that were relatively elegant and simple and were made according to the aesthetics of the ancient Far East were less valued by British and French bandits.
Because now they really don’t know the goods, and some do know the goods, and that is the Japanese who took advantage of the situation. However, the Japanese did not buy many cultural relics from the British and French hands in this time and space, and most of them were taken away by the Hechingen Bank.
Historically, from 1931 to 1945 alone, Japan transported 1,879 boxes of cultural heritage from the Far East. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Japan's own statistics showed that it took away 3.6 million cultural relics from the Far East. This does not include the "trophies" inherited by the descendants of Japanese war criminals from their ancestors.
The Tokyo National Museum also houses a large number of Chinese calligraphy and painting works, such as "Li Bai's Chanting Pictures", "Snowy Landscape Pictures", "The Sixth Patriarch Cutting Bamboo Pictures", Wang Xizhi's authentic "Seventeen Posts"...even Japan does not shy away from it. These national treasure-level cultural relics are included in their 150th anniversary commemorative exhibition. Japan, a dog-like nation, can never be redeemed.
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"You must handle these paintings and calligraphy with care. Also, you must send people to patrol the ship regularly every day to prevent rats from chewing these works of art."
The subordinate said with shame: "Your Highness, don't worry, the mice will not attack the iron box idle."
"That's what you said, but you still have to be careful. Many of the things inside are going to be put in museums. If they get damaged, it will detract from the view."
In addition to antiques, the most important thing Ernst brought with him were books, a total of 30,000 sets, to fill the empty National Library. The National Library was not built in the first town, but in the newly built city "Suojia".
In terms of culture, East Africa as a whole is relatively indifferent. It seems that due to inertial thinking, East Africans do not like to read much, even Germans who have received compulsory education.
After all, compulsory education is a duty, not a right of the German people. The original purpose of universalizing compulsory education is to cultivate qualified soldiers and loyal and patriotic citizens.
Ernst himself didn't care much about this matter. As adults, thinking becomes a stereotype, and Ernst is happy that the thinking of these people remains unchanged. Besides, the audience of the Soga National Library is not ordinary people.