A glowing earth fills the Painted Hall in Greenwich

Luke Jerram’s huge glowing earth has returned to Greenwich’s Painted Hall, filling the baroque space with a slowly rotating orb.

A bit like the artist’s previous work, the Moon at the Natural History Museum, from a distance this glowing orb feels almost like a flat sheet cut out and hung up, but as you approach the full scale of the scale model of the Earth becomes apparent.

The internally-lit sculpture, measuring seven metres in diameter was created using NASA imagery and is an exact scale replica of our planet. With the richly painted ceiling above, it almost feels as if the monarchs, William and Mary have become heavenly gods looking down upon creation.

The interesting perspective of the globe is that we’re seeing it from underneath, at least from a human perspective, as there is no top or bottom in space. So we see the southern hemisphere, which is often underneath the globes you might look at in shops or libraries.

Today you stand beneath it.

Or do the “Leaning Tower of Pisa pose” in front of it.

Gaia is in the Painted Hall until 1st July. Tickets to go into the Painted Hall are £12.50, or there are a limited number of Sunday tickets for £5.

Note that the full entry ticket includes repeat visits for a year, so you can come back another day if you want to see the hall without the Earth hanging in it.

For the Friday Lates go here.

For the cheaper 1st Sunday of the month tickets go here.

For all other days go here.

The undercroft’s Painted Hall Shop and Café will also remain open on the Friday evenings for food and drink along with the Baroque and contemporary art upstairs in the Hall.