291
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Boutsikas et al. (eds.), Advancing Cultural Astronomy, Historical & Cultural
Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_15
Cultural Heritage of Observatories
in Context with the IAU–UNESCO
Initiative: Highlights in the Development
of Architecture
Gudrun Wolfschmidt
1 Introduction
The architecture of observatories has not been discussed much; there is practically
only one publication which discusses not just one, but several observatories in
Europe and in the world (Müller, 1975, 1978). The Greenwich list of astronomical
observatories (Howse, 1986) presents mainly instruments and clocks of observatories from Baroque times to the middle of the nineteenth century. The emphasis of
Krisciunas (1988b) is on “modern” observatories of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, but not on architecture.
In this overview, I will not include the Islamic observatories like Samarkand and
Beijing—important in the Middle Ages. I also have to skip here the five impressive
Indian Observatories in Delhi, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi and Jaipur, erected from
1724 to 1734 during the rule of Maharaja Jai Singh II, already on the UNESCO
World Heritage List since 2010. My contribution is focussed on occidental astronomical heritage, particularly observatories from Renaissance to the twentieth
century.
Astronomy has always played an important role for time keeping and calendars.
Since early Christian times, this has been true also for calculating the date for the
celebration of Easter, resulting to the church having a great interest in astronomy. In
this context, I would like to mention only shortly: in order to measure the length of
the solar year in connection with the Gregorian Calendar Reform (1582), cathedrals
were used as solar observatories—“beauty and utility” (Heilbron, 2001). “Between
Dedicated to Clive Ruggles.President of Commission C4 World Heritage & Astronomy.
G. Wolfschmidt (*)
Center for History of Science and Technology, Hamburg Observatory,
University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: gudrun.wolfschmidt@uni-hamburg.de
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Boutsikas et al. (eds.), Advancing Cultural Astronomy, Historical & Cultural
Astronomy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64606-6_15
Cultural Heritage of Observatories
in Context with the IAU–UNESCO
Initiative: Highlights in the Development
of Architecture
Gudrun Wolfschmidt
1 Introduction
The architecture of observatories has not been discussed much; there is practically
only one publication which discusses not just one, but several observatories in
Europe and in the world (Müller, 1975, 1978). The Greenwich list of astronomical
observatories (Howse, 1986) presents mainly instruments and clocks of observatories from Baroque times to the middle of the nineteenth century. The emphasis of
Krisciunas (1988b) is on “modern” observatories of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, but not on architecture.
In this overview, I will not include the Islamic observatories like Samarkand and
Beijing—important in the Middle Ages. I also have to skip here the five impressive
Indian Observatories in Delhi, Ujjain, Mathura, Varanasi and Jaipur, erected from
1724 to 1734 during the rule of Maharaja Jai Singh II, already on the UNESCO
World Heritage List since 2010. My contribution is focussed on occidental astronomical heritage, particularly observatories from Renaissance to the twentieth
century.
Astronomy has always played an important role for time keeping and calendars.
Since early Christian times, this has been true also for calculating the date for the
celebration of Easter, resulting to the church having a great interest in astronomy. In
this context, I would like to mention only shortly: in order to measure the length of
the solar year in connection with the Gregorian Calendar Reform (1582), cathedrals
were used as solar observatories—“beauty and utility” (Heilbron, 2001). “Between
Dedicated to Clive Ruggles.President of Commission C4 World Heritage & Astronomy.
G. Wolfschmidt (*)
Center for History of Science and Technology, Hamburg Observatory,
University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: gudrun.wolfschmidt@uni-hamburg.de