Glasses with leather frame

• Nuremberg?, early 16th century, length: 9.5 cm

Reading aids have been around since the late Middle Ages but were expensive. The glasses apparently belonged to a nun from the Poor Clare Convent in Ribnitz. It is believed that, after getting damaged, they were hidden under the nun’s pew so as not to jeopardise their wonderful powers as an optical aid by carelessly throwing them away. Similar glasses were found in convents in Lüneburger Heath.