Gottorp Globe

Categories / Science. Education/Museums
GOTTORP GLOBE, a unique planetarium globe - a hollow rotating sphere over 3.1 metres in diameter with the Earth surface pictured on the outside and a celestial map on the inside of the sphere. The internal space is large enough to accommodate a table and a bench for ten or twelve people. The globe was constructed in Gottorp, Germany, in 1652-64. Presented as a gift to Peter the Great by Duke of Holstein Karl Friedrich, it was transported to St. Petersburg and installed in Kunstkammer's tower in 1717. Although it suffered a lot from the fire of 1747, the globe was restored. A two-storied house was built specially for the globe on the square opposite the building of Twelve Colleges in 1751-53. The globe was moved to the Museum Building of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1828. Handed over to the Imperial Court Ministry in 1901, it was installed in the Admiralty of Tsarskoe Selo. The globe was seized by German troops and taken to Germany in 1941. Returned to Leningrad in 1947, it was handed over to the Academy of Sciences again and installed in the restored tower of Kunstkammer. The globe was completely restored in 1958.

Reference: Карпеев Э. П. Большой Готторпский глобус. СПб., 2000.

O. N. Ansberg. Karl Friedrich, Duke
Peter I, Emperor
Карпеев Э. П. Большой Готторпский глобус. СПб., 2000 Kunstkammer
Twelve Collegiums Building
Russian Academy of Sciences
Ministry of the Imperial Court
1747
1717