Relationship With Denmark
Mads Lange never forgot his fatherland, even though most of his life he lived on Bali. He sent several artifacts to the Royal Ethnographic Museum in Copenhagen, which was opened in 1849 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen. After Mads Lange's death, his sea chest was offered to the museum by a Swedish engineer, who had acquired it on Bali. On the 28th July 1854 the many gifts Lange had donated to the museum resulted in him being awarded the Danish Golden Medal of Merit by Frederik VII of Denmark. Papers in the Danish National Archives show the bureaucratic process surrounding this award. "Mads Lange was awarded the golden medal by Royal Order of 28 July 1854 resulting from a proposal by the Ministry for Culture. The initiative for this recognition of merit was taken by Christian Jürgensen Thomasen, who on 7th march sent a letter to the director of the Royal Gallery, nominating Mads Lange for donating valuable artifacts to the Ethnographic Museum. On the 11th may the director sent the proposal on to the Ministry for Culture, which lent its approval on the 24th July, after which it was signed by Frederik VII on the 28th of July."
Mads Lange's contribution did not confine itself to the cultural sphere. He sent thousands of rijksdaalders to Denmark during the First Danish-German War of 1848-1851. He also collected money for the Danish organisation "Aid for the Victims of War".
Read more about this topic: Mads Johansen Lange
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