{"id":398,"date":"2019-10-22T19:13:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T18:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nether-netherland.com\/?p=398"},"modified":"2019-10-22T19:21:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T18:21:25","slug":"visiting-the-oldest-working-planetarium-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nether-netherland.com\/wordpress\/2019\/10\/22\/visiting-the-oldest-working-planetarium-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Visiting the oldest working planetarium in the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the centre of a town in the middle of Friesland, stands an important piece of its history. A planetarium, almost hidden in plain sight, which spans three buildings and holds one of the most fantastic things I\u2019ve ever seen is waiting to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Planetarium spans across three buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Last weekend we visited for the second time, the first time\nhaving been almost three years ago now on one of R and mine\u2019s first dates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time we took the grandparents with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They were interested in the history behind the world\u2019s oldest working planetarium, and R, being the ever obliging tour guide for my family and friends who come and visit, gave them the run down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eise Eisinga was born in the small Frisian village of\nDonrijp in 1744. That\u2019s 275 years ago, which considering what he did, is mind\nblowing. His main interests lay in mathematics and astronomy, even as a\nyoungster, and this continued well into later life, even once he became a wool\ncomber, which earned him and his family their keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May 1774, panic ravaged the Dutch and Frisian people,\nwhen a preacher predicted the earth would be knocked off its course and burned\nup by the sun, caused by the forces of a special constellation that had suddenly\nbeen spotted in the sky. This special constellation was made up of Mercury,\nVenus, Mars, Jupiter and the moon, and managed to send the Netherlands into\ndisarray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an attempt to calm the situation, Eise Eisinga took on the seemingly impossible task of creating a visual representation of the solar system. In order to bring rest amongst his people, he would go on to build a working replica of it in his very own living room. Luckily Eise\u2019s wife, Pietje, was on board with his plans, and gave him a very reasonable 7 years to complete its build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, Eise Eisinga\u2019s living room is the centrepiece of the\nmuseum it lives inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His model is still in full working order, making it the oldest functioning planetarium in the world. That\u2019s kind of fascinating if you think of just how old it is. It\u2019s even more fascinating when you remember that back in the 18th<\/sup> century, there was no such thing as technology as we know it. This man truly had a fantastic mind and a wonderful talent and skill to get something like this up and running. For it to still be running today is simply magical (and yes I see the irony with that sentence).<\/p>\n\n\n\n