Synopsis
The alchemical laboratory is one of the most important birthplaces of modern science. Yet it remains a relatively understudied topic. This is due to the scarce historical record of these places which – before laboratories became institutionalized – tended to be make-shift and multi-purpose spaces. Thus an interdisciplinary approach is needed to approach this topic central to the history of experimental knowledge production. This article serves as an introduction to the proceedings of the international symposium ‘Alchemical Laboratories. Texts, practices, material relics’ held in February 2020 in Vienna and Oberstockstall. It gives an overview of not only the articles contained in this volume but also contextualizes them in current research discourses relevant to alchemical and chymical laboratories, mainly the experimental history of science and the archaeology of alchemy but not reduced to them.
