19th century orrery
Setting up this ingenious orrery was no small feat. A professor had to attach the metal arms to a table which indicated the different positions of the sun and the seasons. Next he attached the planets and their moons. Only then the professor could finally use the device to demonstrate the different alignments to his students.
It was also possible to use it as a tellurium, which shows how the earth revolves around the sun. Finally, it could be turned into a lunarium, which demonstrates the movements of the moon in relation to the earth.
The orrery was acquired between 1808 and 1830 from the Van Laun brothers in Amsterdam. This explains why the planets Neptune and Pluto are missing: they were not discovered until much later.
The purchase of new teaching materials for astronomy was desperately needed in those days. When professor Jacob Baart de la Faille was appointed in 1790, the university only had four astronomical instruments in its possession: two globes, a wooden sextant, and a small orrery.
Baart de la Faille tried hard to improve the situation. Time and again he pleaded for money to buy astronomical instruments ‘that this Academy is in dire need of’. He must have been successful in the end, because this orrery eventually was purchased from one of the most renowned Dutch builders.
Seventeen of the Van Laun brothers’ orreries are currently known to exist. Because they consisted of many parts, they seldom survive the decades unscathed. In this specimen, the table has been lost. The globes – one showing the constellations and one depicting the earth – were not manufactured in Amsterdam. The brothers had them made by globe manufacturer Delamarche in Paris.| Last modified: | 13 August 2021 3.33 p.m. |