A catalog of old globes in Spanish public collections

2025/12/05 by Miguel Querejeta, Querejeta, Miguel · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #FOS: Physical sciences #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Historical Geography and Cartography #History and Developments in Astronomy #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #physics.hist-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.15730

openalex publication_date 2025/12/05 · arxiv published 2025/12/05 · arxiv updated 2025/12/05 · openalex created_date 2025/12/21 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

This paper presents the first catalog of celestial and terrestrial globes, as well as armillary spheres and orreries, produced before 1900 and preserved in Spanish public institutions. Most globes have an English or French origin, predominantly from the late 18th or 19th centuries. We highlight a few outstanding examples, including an early metallic terrestrial globe, a mysterious blue celestial manuscript globe, the oldest preserved Spanish printed globe, and some interesting clockwork pieces. While Spain has not been a major producer of globes, it does preserve around two hundred historical globes in public collections, including several remarkable pieces.

Discussions

• Miguel Querejeta: A catalog of old globes in Spanish public collections https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.15730 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.15730 https://arxiv.org/html/2512.15730 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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