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Celestial orb
Palazzo Bianco 1929 Genova - Provenienza
ambito italiano
globe
3296
Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 150; Diametro: 106
legno-gesso-cartapesta
The use of celestial globes responded to two orders of problems: aiding navigation and teaching astronomy. With the 17th-century Dutch globes, the celestial sphere becomes an occasion for “entertainment” rather than erudition. On the basis of the position of the stars, ordered according to different magnitudes, the constellations represented with mythological drawings are arranged: from the warrior Orion, to Sagittarius, to the Eagle, to Gemini; the globe thus becomes the “theater of the sky.” In this wooden celestial globe, the stars are indicated in Latin, Greek and Arabic-a tribute to the mother tongue of astronomy.