The Golden Jagiellonian Globe from the Jagiellonian University Museum Collection – an unusual object with a fascinating history

“The Golden Jagiellonian Globe” (early 16th century; in the collection of the Jagiellonian University Museum) is the earliest globe of the Earth in the Polish collections and one of the oldest in the world. The oldest known globe of the Earth was made by Martin Behaim in 1492. The second in order are two globes from the same period: the Hunt-Lenox Globe (c. 1510, now in the New York Public Library) and the Jagiellonian Globe. Despite its name, the Jagiellonian Globe is an astronomical instrument – a mechanical armillary sphere. On the orb hiding the mechanism there is a map of the Earth, dated 1510–1511. This object has been sparsely analysed, especially in the last decades. Those analysis that were performed have until now mainly focused on the depicted map and the typology of particular details, though there are also studies on its operation and provenance. Research performed in the 21st century focused on WWII history of the globe.A preliminary analysis of the sphere and the clock mechanism allows a connection with  French products from Blois near Paris. The map of the globe, associated with the Italian centre, presents information on geographical discoveries of the time, based on maps by Martin Waldseemüller and letters by Amerigo Vespucci, published in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geography (Saint-Dié, 1507). The map is a twin to the layout of the lands and seas depicted on Hunt-Lenox’s Globe. It is distinguished by a mysterious continent-island, noted on the Kraków globe as “America Noviter Reperta.” The provenance of the globe is known since the 17th century, when the Kraków professor, Jan Brożek, donated it to the Collegium Maius library of the Jagiellonian University. Its fate during World War II, when it was hidden from the Nazis by docent Jadwiga Schoen, is extraordinary. After the war, the globe found its way to the Jagiellonian University Museum, where it has been exhibited ever since.

“The Golden Jagiellonian Globe” (early 16th century; in the collection of the Jagiellonian University Museum) is the earliest globe of the Earth in the Polish collections and one of the oldest in the world. The oldest known globe of the Earth was made by Martin Behaim in 1492. The second in order are two globes from the same period: the Hunt-Lenox Globe (c. 1510, now in the New York Public Library) and the Jagiellonian Globe. Despite its name, the Jagiellonian Globe is an astronomical instrument – a mechanical armillary sphere. On the orb hiding the mechanism there is a map of the Earth, dated 1510–1511. This object has been sparsely analysed, especially in the last decades. Those analysis that were performed have until now mainly focused on the depicted map and the typology of particular details, though there are also studies on its operation and provenance. Research performed in the 21st century focused on WWII history of the globe.A preliminary analysis of the sphere and the clock mechanism allows a connection with  French products from Blois near Paris. The map of the globe, associated with the Italian centre, presents information on geographical discoveries of the time, based on maps by Martin Waldseemüller and letters by Amerigo Vespucci, published in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geography (Saint-Dié, 1507). The map is a twin to the layout of the lands and seas depicted on Hunt-Lenox’s Globe. It is distinguished by a mysterious continent-island, noted on the Kraków globe as “America Noviter Reperta.” The provenance of the globe is known since the 17th century, when the Kraków professor, Jan Brożek, donated it to the Collegium Maius library of the Jagiellonian University. Its fate during World War II, when it was hidden from the Nazis by docent Jadwiga Schoen, is extraordinary. After the war, the globe found its way to the Jagiellonian University Museum, where it has been exhibited ever since.