[mitologies] the astronomy room

- the ASTRONOMY room -

Following either the woodcut room of the Seven Trumpets or some of the other tunnels, we encounter the first medieval curiosity room, the Astronomy room. The room is loosely based on the idea of star-gazing from the ancient times thru the middle ages, where all celestial bodies were considered, for the most part, God(s) and Heaven. Earth (GeoCentric) exists as the imperfect center of the universe and the gods look down on their creation, Man.

The center of the spherical room consists of a large 16th Century telescope used mostly for navigation on seafaring vessels. When approaching it the telescope lights, inviting us to look through its eyepiece where we can gaze at the Sistine Chapel paintings of the Heavens. In the CAVE, the gaze is controlled by the movement of the tracked user's head.

The planets that make up the solar system rotate around the telescope, hung from curved rods. The sound motif is a short excerpt from Wagner's Siegfried .