The Tübingen Poupou

Tuebingen University Museum MUT hosts a number of unique artifacts. The highlight of the Tuebingen ethnological collection is the object called a „Poupou“ - a panel with an ancestor's depiction from a meeting-house in New Zealand. It's special importance derives from the fact that it hails from the first expedition to the South Pacific of british explorer James Cook (1768-1771). It is also the only architectural piece of a Maori-building that ever came to a museum outside of New Zealand from one of Cook's three expeditions. This publication explains the meaning of the Poupou as a cultural rarity as well as a representative object of Maori culture. At the same time the monograph offers insight into the era of exploration and voyaging of the 18th century.