There’s a place in Boston where you can have the world at your fingertips – literally – and it’s a one-of-a-kind experience. I’m talking about the Mapparium, which is tucked inside the Mary Baker Eddy Library.
Here you can step inside a stained glass map of the globe, as it appeared in 1935!
Flickr/Smart Destinations
The vivid colors, bizarre acoustics, and unique perspective – the Earth curves around you as you are looking out – combine to make this a destination that’ll fill you with awe.
Flickr/Imran Ali
The vast globe is three stories high and, although it was created to signify the reach of the Church of Christian Science, it has become a historical piece of artwork.
Facebook/The Mary Baker Eddy Library While visually stunning, it’s informative as well, revealing national borders as they stood in 1935 before the start of World War II.
A man named Chester Lindsay Churchill dreamed up this massive stained glass orb. Its subsequent creation took three years and cost $35,000 (equal to a little over $625,000 today).
Flickr/Imran Ali Although the globe has been renovated, it has never been updated to reflect modern borders. During the last renovation, the lights previously used to make the globe’s colors glow were swapped out for LED lighting capable of changing into any of 16 million different hues!
If you thought glass windows were challenging to clean, imagine being responsible for cleaning this behemoth!
Facebook/The Mary Baker Eddy Library The massive globe is hand-cleaned and a cherry picker is needed to allow people to reach the whole thing.
In order to view this man-made wonder for yourself, you do need to take a tour – space is limited inside the Mapparium.
Yelp/Vicky H. Although tours are brief, lasting 15-20 minutes, it’s enough time to soak in the world and hear the unique acoustics. Since the globe is almost a perfect sphere, voices sound much louder in its center. Tours take place every 20 minutes, starting at 10:20 a.m., with the last tour available at 4:00 p.m.
Although it’s free to view the rest of the church, you do need to pay an admission fee for the Mapparium and the funds go towards its maintenance. Tickets cost $6 per person; $4 for seniors, students, and kids; anyone younger than five years old enters for free. The church is closed on Mondays.
Afterwards, pause at the exhibit about the Mapparium.
The Mapparium is the big draw but this building is quite a dramatic structure in and of itself.
Flickr/Francisco Seoane Perez
Take a moment to admire the architecture.
Flickr/jimsideas
Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christian Science, and the rest of this library contains information about her or produced by her. People of all faiths are welcome.
Flickr/jimsideas
The Mapparium is located at 200 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
Flickr/Smart Destinations
Flickr/Imran Ali
Facebook/The Mary Baker Eddy Library
While visually stunning, it’s informative as well, revealing national borders as they stood in 1935 before the start of World War II.
Although the globe has been renovated, it has never been updated to reflect modern borders. During the last renovation, the lights previously used to make the globe’s colors glow were swapped out for LED lighting capable of changing into any of 16 million different hues!
The massive globe is hand-cleaned and a cherry picker is needed to allow people to reach the whole thing.
Yelp/Vicky H.
Although tours are brief, lasting 15-20 minutes, it’s enough time to soak in the world and hear the unique acoustics. Since the globe is almost a perfect sphere, voices sound much louder in its center. Tours take place every 20 minutes, starting at 10:20 a.m., with the last tour available at 4:00 p.m.
Although it’s free to view the rest of the church, you do need to pay an admission fee for the Mapparium and the funds go towards its maintenance. Tickets cost $6 per person; $4 for seniors, students, and kids; anyone younger than five years old enters for free. The church is closed on Mondays.
Afterwards, pause at the exhibit about the Mapparium.
Flickr/Francisco Seoane Perez
Flickr/jimsideas
Have stood at the center of the Earth yet?
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