Hamburg temple model

Schott's model is in the tradition of many Renaissance and Baroque attempts at reconstruction of the temple by theological and architectural scholars.

The Hamburg-based model closely follows an interpretation by the Spanish Jesuit Juan Bautista Villalpando in 1604, in turn, based on the Third Temple described in the Book of Ezekiel.

The reason the expensive and complex model was commissioned is unknown but one theory is that the model was constructed in preparation for building the set of a 1692 opera in two parts titled "The Destruction of Jerusalem" with a libretto by Christian Heinrich Postel.

The model was taken to Dresden, where it was shown as part of the collection of Jewish ceremonial art.

After the restructuring of this collection in the early 19th Century the model had several owners, before being acquired by the Hamburg Museum in 1910.