Events

A late-Renaissance dynamo, Munich-born Ernest of Bavaria, son of a Duke Albert V, was elected bishop of Liège in 1581 and archbishop of Cologne two years later. He was also bishop of Munster, Freising and Hildesheim – and thus a powerful figure in the Catholic Church and beyond. Next year marks the 400th anniversary of his death, a good occasion to examine the life and times of this flamboyant humanist, who financed Kepler, corresponded with Gallileo, supported technological and industrial development, persecuted Protestants, burned witches, chased women and kept a scholarly and refined court.  This show of nearly 350 objects  evokes his eventful life and times in a Europe on the cusp of  modernity.