Between 1774 and 1781, the Frisian wool comber Eise Eisinga built an accurate moving model of our solar system on the ceiling of his living room. Since 2023, this unique planetarium has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is recognised as the oldest working planetarium in the world.
In Eisinga’s former workshop, you can learn about his original profession as a wool comber. Astronomy and mathematics were only his hobbies, but he practised them at an exceptional level. At the age of fifteen, he wrote a mathematics book, followed two years later by a book on astronomy, both entirely through self-study.
The planetarium still shows the current positions of the planets, moving around the sun at exactly the same speed as they do in real life. It is an impressive achievement, especially considering it was built by a self-taught wool comber.
The mechanism consists of an ingenious system of wooden gears, rings and discs, powered by a pendulum clock and nine weights. Around 10,000 hand-forged nails serve as gear teeth in this remarkable construction.
The Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium is much more than just a planetarium. It is also a museum with an extensive collection of historic astronomical instruments and exhibitions about modern astronomy. In addition, documentaries are shown continuously in the museum’s film theatre.
