Objects

Gerard Mercator: terrestrial and celestial globe, 1541, 1551

The world’s only globe museum holds at the moment more than 650 objects: terrestrial and celestial globes, globes of the earth’s moon and of various planets, as well as instruments linked with globes (armillary spheres) and instruments of which globes are an integral part (planetaria, telluria, lunaria).
When acquiring new objects we look mostly for those that represent the historical development or the geographical spread of production of globes. Our main chronological interest is in acquiring objects that were made before 1950, except when they incorporate some particularly noteworthy development in the field of globe studies. Following the commission on collections given to the Austrian National Library, when the holdings are expanded special attention is given to globes that were produced in (Old) Austria or by (Old) Austrians, or were of outstanding significance in their field.

Research on Holdings

200 terrestrial and celestial lunar and planetary globes, as well as globe related instruments (armillary spheres, planetaria, telluria) from the holdings of the Globe Museum are on display in the exhibition area.

A further 450 objects are to be found in the research collection of the Museum. There is a seperate room available for persons wishing to conduct globe related studies (by previous arrangement).

Technical literature on globe studies is acquired, processed, and made available in the Map Department of the Austrian National Library. Particularly worth mentioning in this context are handbooks, lexicons, periodicals, and articles from periodicals which are especially relevant to the history of globes, their production and use, to information on globe makers and the means they chose to produce them.

All of the objects in the Globe Museum – independent of their year of production – are listed bibliographically and can be researched in QuickSearch (Globes catalogue).

Research in the catalogue

last update 9/5/2013