Inside a Stained Glass World
Inside a Stained Glass World
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
Oddly enough, it isn’t the books drawing me there.
What I want to see is the three-story stained-glass globe at the center of the building.
The Mapparium, a globe, opened in 1935. It is constructed from 608 individual stained-glass panels and forms a walk-through globe that places visitors inside the world rather than looking down on it. Because it’s spherical, the map avoids the distortions of the Mercator projection, and countries appear in their true proportions, which is oddly grounding when you’re used to seeing the world flattened and skewed.
The space has another unexpected feature: whisper acoustics. Even the softest sound carries across the chamber, making the experience feel intimate and slightly surreal, as if the globe itself is listening.
Of course, the Mapparium was already outdated almost as soon as it opened. National borders shifted quickly in the mid-twentieth century, and there were early discussions about updating the panels. But by 1960, a decision was made that the globe was no longer a map meant to be corrected; it was a historical artifact and a work of art, worthy of preservation exactly as it was.
I love that choice.
There’s something comforting about stepping into a frozen moment of global history, seeing the world as it was once understood, and being reminded how temporary our certainties really are.
And if I’ve already made it that far? Well. Perhaps I’ll catch a Boston Red Sox game while I’m there.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller based in Tontitown, Arkansas.
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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