People in Europe have always been fascinated by foreign cultures. As soon as a new country or even a new continent was discovered and conquered, people began to take artefacts and natural objects from there back home to collect and preserve them in cabinets of art and curiosities, cabinets of curiosities and natural objects, archives, museums and libraries.

This is how the Electoral Library in Dresden, founded in 1556, from which today's SLUB emerged, came to hold written documents from Central America to East Asia and from Scandinavia to North Africa, the oldest of which is over 4000 years old. The SLUB's collection also contains numerous travelogues, descriptions, treatises and plates in which experiences, impressions, research and pictures were recorded.

Some of the rarest and most valuable objects are on display in the exhibition. Against the background of the current debate, the curators were particularly interested in the origin of the exhibits. The provenance of the objects was determined and described as far as possible.