BOOM!!! A 1000 years of Gunpowder in the Army Museum
From 2 June 2006, the Army Museum in Delft will be hosting an exhibition showing how mixing together three simple substances sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre created an incredible explosion of developments. Entitled BOOM!! A 1000 years of Gunpowder, this show highlights the origins and development of this explosive mixture. As early as the tenth century, the Chinese were making rockets and flame-throwers to keep assailants at bay.
The ornamental fireworks we still use on festive occasions are the descendants of these light-giving projectiles. Global industrial and military applications have been developed over the last thousand years, and gunpowder-based techniques are still being used in technological processes to this very day. Who would have thought there was a connection between a 17thcentury battle, a 19th-century steam train, firecrackers and the airbag in our car? With original objects from international collections, film images, historical prints and manuscripts, BOOM!! A 1000 years of Gunpowder lets us see, hear and smell these developments. A spectacular light and sound show literally thrusts the fireworks into the limelight.
Gunpowder: an invention that still generates thrust
Gunpowder is one of the most important inventions ever. As early as the 10th century, the Chinese had discovered the exact chemical mixture of sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre for making flaming weapons. Moreover, the light spectacle that accompanied the blasts led to the development of wonderful ornamental firework. Gunpowder found its way to Europe from the 13th century onwards, probably along the renowned Silk Road. In the centuries that followed, the first military uses for gunpowder were devised in Western Europe. It took on an increasingly important role on the battlefield and during sieges, with a shattering and permanent impact on the history of warfare. Besides, the ability to discharge weapons from an ever greater distance made warfare more anonymous. It was gunpowder that helped the Netherlands to rule the seas during the 17th and 18th centuries, and to dominate Europe with its ships armed with guns.
Gunpowder also sparked off major social and political developments. It was the first man-made chemical source of energy, for which until then natural forces had been used. Several significant industrial uses in the 18th and 19th centuries were based on gunpowder, such as the development of steam engines and steam trains or possibilities for creating explosions in the mining industry. One of the very latest uses of gunpowder is far nearer home, namely the airbag. Airbags have an ignition device that is based on gunpowder, which makes them blow themselves up, as it were.
A bolt out of the blue
Throughout history, discharging as well as storing gunpowder and fireworks has always been fraught with risk. In 1654, a large part of the centre of Delft was destroyed by the Delft Thunderclap, during which 90,000 pounds of gunpowder stored in the Kruithuis (a gunpowder magazine) exploded, claiming the lives of many of the towns residents including the well-known painter Carel Fabritius. Several buildings were also damaged, and a convent and a site used for militia training directly next to the magazine were completely destroyed. The site was rebuilt thanks to a national collection of money. This Paardenmarkt (horse market) now houses the Army Museum depot, while the new gunpowder magazine was built far beyond the city walls along the river Schie.
In 2000, the Netherlands was again startled by an explosion in a fireworks depot. Within minutes, this firework disaster destroyed an entire district of the city of Enschede, an explosion with dramatic consequences.
Using original objects from international collections, film images, historical prints and documents, the exhibition BOOM!! A 1000 years of Gunpowder traces the development of gunpowder. Extensive use is made of material taken from two beautifully illustrated manuscripts from the Army Museums library, Pyrotechnica of Konstint Vuurwercken (Pyrotechnics or Constant Fireworks) by Daniel Galschut, a gunner in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in about 1695, and Grand art dartillerie (Great art of artillery) by Casimir Siemienowicz.
The exhibition runs from 2 June 2006 to 3 December 2006
