The oldest preserved globe in the world - a UNESCO World Heritage Site

20.05.2023 - Red. GlobenShop

In 1492, the Nuremberg Council commissioned the merchant and cloth merchant Behaim to depict the earth in the shape of a sphere.
It was a joint endeavour by various craftsmen. A ball of clay was covered with cloth and glued with glue, then painted and written on. This globe shows the historical and geographical knowledge of the earth at the end of the Middle Ages.
Numerous details such as mythical creatures and exotic animals, images of rulers and coats of arms as well as small poetic texts, pictograms and place names adorn this work of art. The Nuremberg merchant Martin Behaim is immortalised on the globe as the author.

According to the exhibition in Nuremberg City Hall, the globe was given to the Behaim family in the 17th century. In the 1930s, it was to be sold to America. The mayor at the time bought the Behaim globe and gave it to the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. The globe of Europe 1492 can still be viewed there today.