Mapparium050

The Mapparium is a thirty-foot stained-glass globe room located in The Mary Baker Eddy Library. Standing inside the globe on the thirty-foot glass bridge that spans the center, visitors have a true insider's view of the world. Since opening in 1935, more than 10 million people have stepped across the bridge to this piece of art and architecture that was then, and still is today, the only one of its kind in the world.

From pole to pole, you can see the correct proportion and relationship of the earth's land and water areas. The colors of each of the 608 stained-glass panels mark political divisions of 1935, including land, and water. Its translucent blues, orange, red, yellow, and green, framed in bronze panels, were kiln-fired one at a time. These colors are permanent, with the unusually brilliant effect of 14th-century European stained glass. Illumination consists of more than 200 specially designed computerized LED lights.

Each panel covers ten degrees of latitude and longitude. Clocks arranged on the equatorial meridian indicate time changes throughout the world. Because the glass surface does not absorb sound, sound waves travel along the walls and bounce back into the center of the room, giving the room unusual echoing sound effects.