As the Earth Turns If you grew up in Miami, you probably remember the huge globe on display in the lobby of the Museum of Science. Especially as seen in the eyes of a child, it’s not the kind of thing one is likely to forget! It turns out that globe has quite a history; and one that is still evolving. Its peculiar orbit began in 1934, a work of art proudly commissioned by Pan American Airways to be showcased in the lobby of its home terminal on Dinner Key in the Grove.. It reflected the very personal aspirations of that pioneering airlines visionary founder, Juan Trippe, to open up the world through air travel. It’s also worth noting that it took shape during the golden era of Pan Am’s famed trans-global clipper ship service, an all-time peak in deluxe air travel. (Advertised and delivered as the full equivalent in comfort and luxury of the finest cruise ships of the day, flights included private sleeping cabins, gourmet meals served on fine china, and much more. In sum, the polar opposite of air travel today. Pan Am eventually moved its operations to the Miami airport, and the globe found its grateful new home in the Museum. Over the following decades it suffered the ordinary wear and tear of a fairly delicate item constantly exposed to lawless multitudes, including innumerable children. (You may recall the coins always piling up below, representing “good luck” for those who’d thrown the coins, and “not-so-good” luck for the globe itself, and its finely detailed surface.) To cap it off, it had been “repaired” once or twice by lackluster re- paintings. The original appearance and craftsmanship of the somewhat whimsical art deco masterpiece became completely lost. And thus it remained from the 1950‘s until 1972, so odds are the globe you remember is that pictured in photo # 6. (Certainly so for me.) Only in 2012, with corporate sponsorship, did the Museum undertake to have the original appearance of the globe painstakingly researched, and see to a professional restoration bringing it as close as possible to the original. I took picture #5 about a month ago, where it still remains at the old Museum of Science on S. Miami Ave., across the street from Vizcaya. (Some of the other pics of the globe are from the Museum of Science blog, miamisci.org/blog/the-globe-over-time/ ) It gives a good sense of its present appearance, and also that most likely appreciated by air travelers of the 1930‘s. _________________________ A new and ambitious, state-of-the-art Science Museum for Miami is in the works and moving full steam ahead, scheduled to open in a fairly amazing new facility in downtown Miami next year (2015). Id read that the County planned on demolishing the old building as part of the Villa Vizcaya Farm restoration project currently underway. And you know how the County can be... So I was in the neighborhood, and stopped in. I was somewhat relieved to see both building and globe intact! (What does one do with a used Planetarium?, I pondered as I walked by the sad old green-tiled dome that had once seemed so space age.) When I asked, the staff reported that they’d been told the building would probably be closing sometime next year. The refurbished globe will no doubt be moving on as well, to its next travel destination. So if you may be inclined to visit old haunts, or share with any younger ones hanging about your Museum of long-ago and far away, now may be the time! Thank you.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:26:57 +0000
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