188 years. That’s about how long it has been since Austin was settled. The city started as Waterloo in 1837 and was renamed Austin in 1839 — the same year it became the capital of Texas.
All things considered, it’s a young city. To put it in perspective, Paris became the capital of France in the year 987, Oslo was established in 1049, and Mexico City was founded in 1325.
Despite the city’s youth, you can still find some pretty old things in Austin. Let’s take a peek at some really old stuff you can see in town.
Red-Figure Apulian Plate | 340–320 BCE
Found in Apulia in southwestern Italy, this plate is decorated with fish from the Adriatic Sea and features a depression in the middle to hold sauces or juice. In ancient Greece, wealthy people’s everyday objects were highly decorated to enhance the ambiance of their meals.
Gutenberg Bible | ~1454-1456
Acquired by the Harry Ransom Center in 1978, the Gutenberg Bible in Austin is one of 20 complete copies in the world. It’s one of the first books ever to be mass-produced using a movable type — aka a printing press. It is completely digitized and always on display.
The Pforzheimer First Folio | 1623
William Shakespeare’s “Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,” otherwise known as the First Folio, would have cost £1 when it was first printed and was considered a luxury. It features 36 of Shakespeare’s plays, many of which had yet to be printed, and three of four copies in Texas are housed in the Harry Ransom Center’s collection.
The Education of the Virgin | 1689–1706
Luisa Roldán, the earliest documented female sculptor in Spain, created this statue of the young Virgin Mary — before she gave birth to Jesus — out of painted terracotta. Mary kneels to lean over her mother, Saint Anne, while reading, and her father, Saint Joachim, sits on the other side. The subject may have been particularly special to Roldán, who was taught to sculpt by her father.
Niépce Heliograph | 1827
The oldest surviving photograph made with a camera obscura, the Niépce Heliograph was captured by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in Burgundy, France. It’s hard to make out, but the pewter plate it is captured on shows a courtyard, surrounding buildings, and trees. It took several days of sunlight exposure to capture and was an essential precursor to the Daguerreotype.
Which ancient artifacts do you think should be on this list? Drop us a line.
