Terrestrial Globe and Celestial Globe
Origin: Jansz Blaeu's Workshop (Netherlands)
Date: Circa 1645/1700
Material: Wood, paper pulp and paper
Dimension: Diameter: 680 mm
MM.05251 (Terrestrial globe) e MM.05252 (Celestial globe)
The European discoveries allowed for a significant growth in geographical knowledge. They also allowed the discovery of new constellations, unknown to the people of the northern hemisphere at that point. The most accurate way to represent these realities, geographical and cosmographical, consisted in the use of globes. These were richly decorated and were often used as a symbol of wealth and prestige.
The Maritime Museum has a magnificent pair of globes, from the seventeenth century, produced in the workshops of Willem Jans Blaeu, the famous Dutch globe maker. The terrestrial globe dates from circa 1645 and the celestial globe from circa 1700. Both were manufactured after Blaeu’s death, which occurred in 1638.