- That an instrument of torture might be redeemed by removing it from the glass cabinet & hanging it from a wintering tree.
- The ‘anxiety pear’ was a pear-shaped wooden device placed in the mouth to muffle the screams of torture victims. It was secured with laces that were tied at the back of the head.
- It should be noted that the castle once served as a prison, & later as a factory. On the battlements, barriers have been placed across the crenels—presumably to prevent ‘accidents’, or to block out the luring view of the city.
- A warning posted upon the guillotine, in four languages (the English text reads ‘Do not touch’). Does the warning refer only to the guillotine, or could it have a wider field of reference? Or taken together, guillotine & warning could be seen to mark a vast unease vis-à-vis how the past appears—or fails to appear—to us.
- This is a ‘chamber of purity’—a room that is said to ward off lies. It is currently closed for repairs.
- The Latin inscription in the vestry might be translated as ‘One must act as if one is always in sight.’
Note: the paragraph regarding the anxiety pear has been adapted from a caption in a display cabinet at Gravensteen, Ghent, Belgium.