Wolfgang Praegler & Gudrun Mirbach-Praegler
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The walk-in Globe in the palace garden of the castle of Gottorf,
Schleswig, was the first planetarium of the world
About
1660
Frederick
III,
the
Duke
of
Holstein-Gottorp,
had
the
Globe
of
Gottorf
built.
The
work
was
done
under
the
supervision
of
his
scientist,
mathematician
and
geographer
Adam
Olearius.
The
globe
had
a
diameter
of
3.1m
and
soon
became
world
famous.
For
the
first
time
the
presentation
of
the
world
and
of
the
sky
were
combined.
On
the
outside
the
world
as
it
was
known
at
that
time
is
shown,
and
inside
visitors
could
marvel
at
the
starry
sky
and
the
astrological
and
mythological
constellations.
The
stars
and
constellations
were
illuminated
by
candles,
and
for
the
movement
of
the
globe
water
power
was
used.
Like
the
earth
it
turns
around
its
axle,
and
it
was
the
first
planetarium
of
the
world.
Today
one
turn
takes about 8 minutes. Up to 8 visitors fit into this globe.
In
1717
the
globe
was
taken
to
St.
Petersburg
by
Tzar
Peter
the
Great
as
spoils
of
war.
There
it
was
destroyed
by
fire
and
needed to be rebuilt by tsarina Elisabeth of Russia.
Nowadays the globe in Gottorf is a near-replica, but today with electric lights and motors.
