The Renaissance experienced some of the most important advances in human history: the invention of the printing press using movable letters, the West's discovery of a continent and the formulation of a new view of the earth. It was a time when people sought to solve the riddles of nature, experimented with alchemy, set out to develop a new medical science, conceived a new vision of humankind and created beauty in the form of pictures and architecture, sculpture and literature. All these discoveries and creations would have been unimaginable without cultural exchange. The Renaissance was an era of dialogue and new horizons in thinking over great distances and time. Based on numerous examples--works of art, instruments and everyday objects--this substantial publication invites readers to trace the various paths of transference. Renowned authors take us to antiquity and the Orient, to Italy and through half of Europe.