Extra information
Actual activities
The Marine Quadrant
This article is published in "Ruimschoots" - nautical magazine, april 2025
In a time when seafarers relied on the stars to find their way, the Marine Quadrant, alongside the Astrolabe, became an essential tool for navigation. This instrument, a simple quarter circle made of wood or brass, allowed sailors to measure the height of the sun or stars above the horizon and thus determine the latitude of the ship.
Navigational Instruments: Setting the right course
This article is published in "Collect" magazine, march 2025
The Southern and Northern Netherlands played a crucial, though often forgotten, role in the development of navigational instruments and techniques during the 16th and 17th centuries. While the Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery are often at the forefront of historical accounts, the Low Countries also contributed significantly to the advancement of navigational science during the ‘golden age’ of Antwerp (1502–1585) and of Amsterdam (after 1585) with their VOC empire.
Archived/passed activities
Amsterdam Map Fair in the Maritime Museum
The NavigArte team will participate the event on 7/9/2024
At this fair, 30 national and international antiquarian dealers will sell antique nautical charts, maps, atlases, globes and prints.
The participating antique dealers come from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, America and South Korea.
Picture source: map-fair.com © all rights reserved
To the Antarctic: Belgica's polar pioneers
Our French ‘Sextant à Gyroscope’ from Hurlimann, Lorieux & Ponthus sucr., will be on display in this exhibition.
From 21 June, come and meet the expedition members of the Belgica. Some 125 years ago, they set off from Antwerp to the last blind spot on the world map: Antarctica. The expedition got stuck in the polar ice and made history as a result. Learn how the men managed to survive, who followed in their footsteps, and what Antarctica is like today.
Picture source: Museum MAS © all rights reserved
Under the spell of Time
Our Marine Astrolabe, La Rochelle’ was on display in this exhibition.
De tentoonstelling In de ban van de tijd vertrekt vanuit vijf objecten. Er zijn twee objecten die heel eenvoudig lijken te zijn: een rechte lijn op de grond en een ronde kogel aan een stuk touw. En er
zijn drie meer complexe objecten: een draaibare sfeer die bestaat uit een aantal metalen ringen en twee verschillende mechanische apparaten met bewegende onderdelen. Wat deze objecten verbindt, is dat ze allemaal iets tonen over de tijd. Het verloopvan de tijd draagt altijd een element van mysterie in zich. Er is niets dat meer vertrouwd is, en toch heeft het iets ongrijpbaars. Deze objecten werden gemaakt om het ongrijpbare bevattelijk te maken door vorm te geven aan de tijd.
Each of these objects originates from a specific period in history. We begin the exhibition at the end of the thirteenth century, when a monastery like St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent was one of the most central places for the circulation and cultivation of knowledge. We end in the nineteenth century, when modern research universities began to take shape. These six centuries witnessed major changes in the European worldview, and these objects played a significant role in this. They are objects that stand between the science, technology, and art of their time. They allowed people to imagine the passage of time in various ways. At the same time, they were also
Objects of the imagination. They appear in paintings, illustrations, or later in films. Because of their connection to time, they have always been seen as particularly meaningful objects. It is this meaning that we attempt to reveal.
Atlas Major, the most beautiful atlas in the world
Many of our instruments and some books were on display in this exhibition.
The most beautiful, the most expensive, the largest: all superlatives apply to the Atlas Maior, which Johan Blaeu published in 1662. In eleven hefty volumes containing no fewer than 594 hand-colored maps and over 3,000 pages of text, Blaeu compiled the geographical knowledge of his time. This "Google Maps" of the 17th century was the most expensive publication ever sold!
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For the first time, the much-discussed atlas from the Phoebus Foundation collection will be presented to the public in its entirety. The exhibition "The Most Beautiful Atlas in the World – Blaeu's Atlas Maior," organized by STEM in collaboration with The Phoebus Foundation, runs from February 7 to April 25, 2021, at the Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas.
Publications of passed activities
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Conquering the seven seas
Navigation from 1500 to today
The ‘Recht door Zee’ (Conquering the seven seas) exhibition ‘Navigation from 1500 to Today' tells the story of five centuries at sea through an ever-expanding knowledge of cartography, geography andastronomy.
Dozens of navigational instruments, from sextants to modern satellites, illustrate the fascinating story of the technological advances that made it possible for European sailors to sail to the Americas, India, Australia and the South Pole.
This book, summarizing the exhibition is available on demand. Please contact us for more information.
Bootmag
Navigeren van 1500 tot vandaag
Bootmag, the nautical & yachting magazine of Bootmagazine with nautical news from Belgium, Zeeland and rest of world mentioned this exhibition.
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https://www.bootmag.be/2022/06/03/navigeren-van-1500-tot-vandaag/
