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MORAVIAN GALLERIES RENOVATED RARE ARTIFACTS PRESENTED IN BRIGHTER ATMOSPHERE

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. Author: BRYAN HAY, The Morning Call

Copyright Morning Call May 30, 1995

The Moravian Historical Society and its collection of rare artifacts have never looked better.

Workers were busy last week filling the galleries with Moravian treasures, careful not to nick the fresh paint, refinished pine-planked floors and glass display cases on the second floor of the 1740 Whitefield House, 214 E. Center St., Nazareth.

The new whitewashed space has perked up the old keyboards and sackbuts, once obscured by a dark room that looked like Count Zinzendorf's attic, and shed new light on the unmistakable brush strokes of original works by 18th century Moravian painter John Valentine Haidt.

The public is invited to see the new, five-part museum during an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and attend the dedication of the Saal, or worship room, at 2 p.m. Sunday, followed by a Lovefeast on the lawn.

Designed by Executive Director Susan Dreydoppel, the museum will take visitors on a tour through Moravian history, faith, settlements, music and its worldwide missions.

It begins with a 10-minute video traversing 500 years of church history, and picks up with biographies and portraits of Moravian leaders, called "Founders of the Faith." Larger-than-life busts of Moravian patriarchs John Hus, John Amos Comenius, Zinzendorf and David Zeisberger -- "the big four," says Dreydoppel -- greet people on the way out.

Area settlements are covered next, including a look at the history of the Whitefield House, the society's home since 1871 and one of the oldest surviving Moravian buildings in North America.

Bethlehem and quick peaks at other Moravian communities -- Hope, N.J., Lititz, Lancaster County, and Salem, N.C., are also explored. The section also has the original clock works and bell from Nazareth Hall Academy's Manor House Steeple.

Concerts and Christmas programs will be held in the Saal, where guests can hear the newly restored 18th century Tannenberg chamber organ, one of a handful to have survived, and sit on deacon benches, replicas of the originals in the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem. Oils by Haidt adorn the walls.

Arranged like an 18th century Moravian worship room, the Saal has a tile stove and examples of early Lovefeast mugs, texts, hymnals and communion ware.

The music section is filled with neatly displayed trombones -- musical symbols of the Moravian faith -- horns, early valved brasses, a clavichord shipped from London to Bethlehem in 1743, and first generation pianos.

Local instruments makers -- C.F. Martin, Guetter and Hartmann -- are also represented, displayed near a collection of decorative arts and antique furniture, including a headmaster's desk from Nazareth Hall.

The museum concludes with a space devoted to items collected from Moravian missions in Nicaragua, Honduras, Africa and Alaska, and takes a look at contemporary activities of the Moravian Church.

Parts of the exhibit will rotate, Dreydoppel noted. Some changes will be obvious, others inconspicuous.

Coverings that filter ultraviolet rays will be installed on the exterior of the windows, protecting the relics and allowing the interior shutters to finally open and let in the sun, Dreydoppel said.

The renovations will increase museum attendance beyond the 5,000 people who visit there every year, she said. Local contractors were used during the four-month, $85,000 project, a rarity in museum construction, Dreydoppel added.

The work was funded through grants from the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission and the Moravian congregation on Staten Island and private contributions.

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