Instrumentarium (Museum)

The Instrumentarium was a museum of optics, cameras, projectors, measuring instruments and mathematical devices housed in the old community centre in Nothweiler, a village in the Südwestpfalz district. It opened in 2001 with a private collection of 400 objects. By the end of 2012 the museum had closed and its holdings were sold at auction. Visitors could trace the history of spectacles, binoculars and microscopes alongside cameras from the camera obscura to spy cameras. Projectors and other playback devices filled another section. Measuring instruments ranged from nautical and mining surveying tools to scales, anemometers, thermometers and electrical meters. A separate room displayed mathematical instruments such as slide rules and calculating machines. The displays showed how everyday tools evolved through the centuries. After a little over a decade the entire collection was dispersed, leaving only memories of the displays.