300 years of lunar cartography in The Map House

20/07/2019. [LON] UK 21.06 > 21.08.2019
metalocus, ÁNGEL TORNE

The Map House launched an exhibition entitled Mapping of the Moon: 1669-1969, exploring 300 years of lunar and celestial cartography from early astronomers in the 17th century to the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 and beyond.

Exhibition contains around 80 celestial maps from the 17th century, alongside 20 moon globes and scientific instruments, and runs 21st June until 21st August 2019 at The Map House, 54 Beauchamp Place, London SW3 1NY.

Rare Lunar Relief Globe. Produced by Educational Frontiers in 1969 to commemorate the successful Apollo 11 mission.

Rare Lunar Relief Globe. Produced by Educational Frontiers in 1969 to commemorate the successful Apollo 11 mission.

North American Rockwell Map of the Moon. Produced by aerospace manufacturer North American Rockwell and published in 1969, prior to the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July. This map depicts the five potential landing sites as well as a diagram of NASA’s Lunar Landing Mission.

Der Mond, La Lune, The Moon, La Luna. Created by Hans Schwarzenback and published by Hallwag in 1969. The map celebrates The Apollo 11 mission and the landing site is marked with a red dot.

Signed map of Apollo 11 landing site. This ‘internal use only’ map, published in 1969 depicts the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity and is signed by astronaut Buzz Aldrin Lunar Module Pilot Apollo 11.

Stars for July. Created by Dr Richard Anthony Proctor and published in 1884, this map depicts the stars location in the night sky of July. Proctor (1837 – 1888) was an English astronomer known for producing one of the earliest maps of Mars.

Cassini’s Moon Map, first published in 1679, is one of the first scientific maps of the moon

The collection includes many maps from the space age including Hammond Inc's Moon Chart from 1966

Jean Baptist Homann's Tabula Selenographica was published in 1710

Typus Corporis Lunaris. Published in 1669, the map was based on observations of Anthanasius Kircher and Christoph Scheiner in 1636 and 1650. Kircher (1602 – 1680) a German Jesuit scholar and polymath with an enormous range of interests. Scheiner (1573 – 1650) is famed for inventing the copying instrument, pantograph.

Tycho Brahe's map from 1660 shows earth as the centre of the universe

Little Globe Co. The Mapping of the Moon: 1669-1969 in The Map House

The Mapping of the Moon: 1669-1969 in The Map House

Alan Bean. during Apollo 12 Taken 19 November 1969, a signed photograph of astronaut Alan Bean, Lunar Module Pilot, on the surface of the Moon during Apollo 12. Alongside Bean’s signature is a quote from author Rudyard Kipling.

The Moon by Rand McNally Company was published in 1958

The Conquest of Space. Published by Hallway in 1969. The map describes the exploration of space depicting the moon orbit, planetary orbits, relative sizes of planets, satellites and spacecraft. The map includes impotant missions from 1957 – 1969.

The USAF Lunar Wall Mosaic was created by combining over one hundred pictures

The Mapping of the Moon: 1669-1969 in The Map House

Falk Verlag's relief map of the moon was published in 1968

The first moon landing took place 50 years ago on 20 July 1969.

The exhibition, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969, includes rare early 17th and 18th Century observations of the moon from astronomers such as Athanasius Kircher and Jean-Dominique Cassini, important maps produced by NASA for lunar exploration, globes and signed material by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean and Jim Lovell.

20th Century Lunar Maps, Globes & Memorabilia

The launch of Russia’s satellite Sputnik I in 1957 and the first manned space flight mission by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961, the space race between Russia and the U.S. had begun, capturing the imaginations of millions around the world. Observatories and institutions assisted in producing highly detailed lunar maps, track charts and photographs. The publication of moon maps was an important propaganda tool to promote the space race during the Cold War.

The Map House brings together a curated collection, including the U.S. Air Force Lunar Wall Mosaic (1963), an amazingly detailed map compiled from thousands of photographs painstakingly joined to form the most accurate map of the moon to date.

The exhibition also features signed memorabilia that evokes the celebrity status of the astronauts. These include a 1969 ‘internal use only’ map marking the historic Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity signed by Buzz Aldrin and a Philip’s map of the moon showing all six Apollo program landing sites signed by Neil Armstrong. Also on display is a signed large-format photograph of Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean on the moon in November 1969, with a poignant quote from author Rudyard Kipling.

Alongside the scientific diagrams and highly detailed maps are illustrations by prominent artists of the period striving to present a vision of the new future in space.

A striking example is an pictorial map of the moon with five potential landing sites marked, produced by aerospace manufacturer North American Rockwell published prior to the landing in July 1960s. A simple version of NASA’s Lunar Landing Mission diagram. Lines from President Kennedy’s famous speech to Congress in May 1961 circle the moon: “No single space project in this period will be more exciting or more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space.”

17th-20th Century Astronomical Objects

The Mapping of the Moon will also offer visitors a broader history of lunar and celestial mapping, illustrating mankind’s fascination with the night sky. Maps, globes, lightboxes, star charts and 3D models dated from 1660s onwards show our natural compulsion to look beyond our home planet. Tycho Brahe’s map of the solar system, with the sun and moon both orbiting the earth shows an extraordinary attempt to combine the 17th Century astronomical observations with the previously accepted classical model. The exhibition will also include 19th century educational charts showing the constellations and phases of the moon, a superb rare brass model of the solar system dated 1872, and a stunning blue and gold early 20th century celestial globe illustrated with the zodiac.

In recognition of the continued interest in the moon the exhibition will also feature a collection of exquisite miniature porcelain moon globes created by contemporary artist Loraine Rutt of The Little Globe Co.