Gottorfer Globus


View a reconstruction of the famous Gottorfer Globus, which has been placed in its own house, a five-minute walk through the castle's lovely formal gardens. The exterior of the 3m-diameter globe shows how the continents and seas were thought to look in the 17th century. The real magic is inside, however. Several people can fit on a bench inside the globe and watch the Renaissance night sky change as the globe spins around them; eight minutes equals one day.

The original 17th-century globe was lauded as one of the wonders of the world – its first planetarium – but ended up being taken from Schleswig to St Petersburg during the war. It’s still there (albeit fire-damaged) in the Lomonosov Museum.


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