Credit: © The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.10249
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    Plan of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

    Date
    1676
    Creator
    Francis Place (1647 - 1728, British) , Painter
    After
    Robert Thacker (British) , Draftsman
    Object type
    Library reference
    Tracts/X32/4
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 231mm
    width (print): 352mm
    Subject
    Content object
    Description
    Plan of the old Royal Observatory building (now known as Flamsteed House) designed by Christopher Wren (1632-1723) showing rooms, with a key to their use and various details. These include a reflecting telescope tube of 60 feet in length (centre); a 120 foot deep stairwell for parallax observation (top right); and the star chamber, or octagon room (right). Scale: 1 ½ inches to 30 feet.

    Plate 1 from Ichnographia speculae Regiae Grenovici exquisite facta (London, 1676) a series of engravings commissioned by Sir Jonas Moore, the leading force in the construction and equipping of the original Royal Greenwich Observatory. A cartouche bears the dedicatory inscription to King Charles II: “CAROLUS II REX OPTIMUS ASTRONOMIAE & NAUTICAE ARTIS PATRONUS MAXIMUS...Curante Jona Moore Milite RTSG.”

    Sir Jonas Moore (1617-1679) mathematician and patron of astronomy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1674.
    Associated place
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