Physical–political globe of the Earth

The ‘Earth’ physical and political globe from the period of 1867-1870 is the oldest and most valuable exhibit in the collection at the Wincenty Pol Museum-Manor in Lublin. It found its way to the museum in 2005, and unexpectedly and significantly enriched the unique collection of Polish-language globes of the Earth, which were being created there since the 1980s. The initiator of this collection and its content-related guardian was Dr. Janina Ewa Piasecka (1928-2016) from the Subcommittee of Globe Cartography of the Polish Geographical Society.

Issued by the famous Jan Felkel publishing house located in Prague, this globe is the only surviving copy in Poland. The Polish terminology of geographical names of the map was developed by Mirosław Suchecki, who cooperated with the owner of the company since 1865. Only on this globe does Alaska still belong to the Russian Empire (sold to the United States in 1867), and the Oº meridian runs not through Greenwich in England, which was established in 1884, but through the island of Ferro in the Canary archipelago.

The globe is small, about 21 cm in diameter (scale about 1:60 million), and is equipped with a metal 180 ° meridian and a wooden base. Its map shows a network of major rivers, the largest lakes, and mountain ranges with names, but without specifying their height. The largest cities and countries, whose borders are distinguished by coloured lines, have been marked and indicated. There are lines of sea currents marked in the oceans.

The condition of this almost one- hundred-fifty year old globe, purchased from a private person, is not the best. There were numerous abrasions to the map on the sphere, and rusty discolourations on the brass meridian, and the wood base had defects. However, in 2006, it was possible to finance its comprehensive renovation carried out in the Warsaw Conservation Studio of Małgorzata and Wiesław Faber.

This most valuable globe of the collection was presented at two exhibitions: at the Jagiellonian University Museum Collegium Maius in Kraków (2006) and at the Geodetic Museum of the Warsaw Geodesy Enterprise SA in Warsaw (2018).

Grażyna Połuszejko