Globetrotting exhibit at Louvre Abu Dhabi
Louvre Abu Dhabi takes an intimate look at the evolution of the globe in its second temporary exhibition, Globes: Visions of the World, which opens tomorrow.
The exhibition stretches from the first known spherical representation of the world – a silver globe showing the positions of the stars, from 200BC in eastern Turkey – to contemporary photographs of the Earth from space.
The globe as we know it, as a spherical map, does not appear until the 10th century but attempts to represent the world are dotted through the ancient world.
A raised image of a globe is first shown on coins from the Roman Empire in 75BC.
In the Islamic world, the Abbasid caliphs, who translated much of ancient knowledge into Arabic, made celestial spheres in the 8th century. They were of particular importance to Islam because of its lunar calendar and the attention to the position of the Sun for daily prayers.
But it is the 16th century – the age of exploration, of Columbus, Magellan and Amerigo Vespucci – that is the golden age for globes, where they appeared rich in detail across several European countries.
They quickly became familiar. In the 1600s, although they were still artisanal objects, they enjoyed relatively large-scale production, particularly in Amsterdam, and they were coveted possessions in wealthy homes.
Drawn primarily from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and the other French museums in partnership with the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey to draw out the globe’s significance.