In the Gallery: The View From Paradise. The History of the Maps of the Heavens
Date: 12.11.2009 - 30.4.2010
Place: Gallery
The View from Paradise presents the history of the viewing, illustrating and mapping of the heavens from Antiquity to the present day from the scientific, cultural and historical perspectives. The National Library of Finland’s exhibition is the International Year of Astronomy 2009’s most important event at the University of Helsinki.
Professor Tapio Markkanen, who also wrote the script, planned the exhibition.
Our present-day conceptions of the origin, structure and development of the Universe have evolved through many phases of scientific history. The globes of Antiquity have given way to today’s digital databases whose detailed information can be used for even the most esoteric analyses of the structure and development of the Universe. Besides the technical prerequisites for the charts’ production, an examination of star maps reveals wide-ranging cultural linkages because each era’s economic, cultural and political needs have always influenced the mapping of the heavens.
”The View from Paradise” describes the antique tradition of illustrating the heavens from the outside, as if viewed from Paradise. The exhibition displays treasures from the National Library’s collections, particularly the internationally unique Nordenskiöld Collection that is inscribed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. Also on view are valuable works and astronomical research instruments from the collections of the University of Helsinki’s Department of Astronomy, the Ursa Astronomical Association, and other organizations.
The exhibition begins with the earliest depictions and myths of the heavens, thousands of years before the beginning of recorded time, progressing to the universe of the Greeks’ spheres and then to the astronomical charts and star atlases of Late Antiquity. The oldest works displayed date from the 1400–1500s; these include, for example, Claudius Ptolemy’s main work Almagest, the most important source of astronomical information for one and a half millennia. The exhibition also familiarizes visitors with the exhaustive process of star cataloguing, as well as how the Finnish professors of astronomy Friedrich Argelander, Adalbert Krueger and Anders Donner had already been participating in international mapping efforts during the 1800s. Besides the massive, scientifically precise star catalogues, hobbyists’ star atlases and guidebooks from the 1800s to the present day are also displayed.
Also presented at the exhibition is Leith Arar’s photographic artwork Observatory Art - pictures from the University of Helsinki Observatory and its immediate surroundings, as well as the slide presentation Views of the Universe, produced by Ursa and implemented by a working group consisting of Walter Rydman, Asko Palviainen and Thomas Hackman.
The United Nations 62nd General Assembly proclaimed 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy. A glance at the news media reveals that sensational astronomical discoveries are now being made with increasing frequency. For that reason no large-scale research projects have been planned for the International Year of Astronomy; instead, the objective will be to familiarize the general public with the scientific world view and bring the Universe close to ordinary people. Another important objective is also make everyone aware that we are all passengers on the spaceship Earth and each of us is responsible for keeping it viable.
Also associated with the exhibition is a lecture event that will be held in the National Library’s Auditorium (Yliopistonkatu 1) on 25 November 2009 at 17:00, as well as a lavishly illustrated exhibition book written by Tapio Markkanen that will be published by the Ursa Astronomical Association.
Further information:
- Cultural Coordinator Inkeri Pitkäranta, The National Library of Finland,
+358 (0)9 1912 2738, inkeri.pitkaranta@helsinki.fi
- Professor Tapio Markkanen, tapio.markkanen@helsinki.fi, +358 (0)50 5520 605.
- Managing Director Markku Sarimaa, Ursa Astronomical Association,
+358 (0)9 6840 400, markku.sarimaa@ursa.fi
