Masks from the past...

THE FASCINATION OF OBJECTS THAT BEAR WITNESS TO THE PAST

On the evening of 16 March 1792, King Gustav III of Sweden was assassinated (he did not die immediately, but ten days later due to infection of the wound) during a masked ball at the Opera House.

He was killed by a pistol shot from behind by Jacob Johan Anckarstrom, while his accomplices were distracting him.

The LivrustKammaren Museum in Stockholm preserves his Bauta mask and headgear worn at that party.

Being able to see and maybe touch fragments of the past, objects that witness historical events or old pictures of people and places, somehow helps us to visualise the scene and 'feel' better what happened.