Walk Inside a Globe

From Curious Expeditions:

It is a singular experience. No where else on earth can you see, well, earth. Not like this at least; earth the way it really looks, without distortion. As you walk down along the walkway, bathed in a soft blue light from the back-lit stained-glass surrounding you everything sounds strange; you can hear your own breathing as if it was someone else right up against your ear.

D & M are talking about the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, headquarters of the Christian Science Monitor.

The Mapparium consists of backlit stained glass in a room three stories tall. Look up and you can see the North Pole:



The map is of course frozen in time. It was built in 1935 and reflects the pre-WWII, colonial world, but the library has an an ongoing exhibit highlighting the construction, history, and significance of the Mapparium and the changes the world has seen since that time.

I was in Boston only four years ago! How did I not know about this? It will be at the top of my list if I ever get back.

More photos from Curious Expeditions and from the MBE Library.