Medieval Torture
Pestilent air around the gallows, death screams on the rack, whooping crowds gathered around the stocks… These seem to be barbarian abuses from the darkest Middle Ages. Fortunately, we live in modern civilization – we think. However, the historical truth is less comforting.
Our Torture Maze exhibition shows reality as it was until less than two centuries ago. By setting gruesome examples, public authorities demonstrated their right to do as they pleased with the lives and bodies of their subjects. If the grotesque diversity of instruments of punishment still invokes feelings of horror, that is no more than the effect their designers had in mind…