The Eise Eisinga Planetarium

In 1774 several planets appeared close together in the sky and a pamphlet went round predicting the end of the world. Eise Eisinga, a wool comber in Franeker with no formal schooling but a serious grasp of mathematics, decided the useful reply was to show people how the solar system actually moves. He spent seven years building one into the ceiling of his own living room, finishing in 1781. Gilded discs run their orbits at true relative speed, driven by a pendulum clock and a set of weights hidden in the roof space above, and the mechanism has been maintained and running ever since. The house around it is preserved as he left it.

History

Eise Eisinga, a wool carder and amateur astronomer who had moved to Franeker in 1768, built the orrery into the timber ceiling of his living room between 1774 and 1781, and it is the oldest working orrery in the world. William I, Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands, was so impressed that he bought the house, which became a royal planetarium. It has been on the list of the top 100 Dutch heritage sites since 1990, the Dutch government nominated it for World Heritage status on 12 December 2011, and in September 2023 it became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Eise Eisinga Planetarium).

Highlights

• The ceiling orrery - painted blue with gilded planets moving in real time.
• The works above - the wooden gearing and weights in the roof space, reached by a steep stair.
• The living room - box bed, tiled floor and canal-house proportions, kept as they were.
• The instruments - Eisinga's own tools and calculations, and the pamphlet that started it.

When to go

Year-round and indoors, so it makes a good wet afternoon. Rooms are small and a coach party fills them, so mornings are better. Opening days are reduced outside the summer, which is worth checking before making the trip out from Leeuwarden. The explanation, guided or recorded, is what makes the ceiling legible.

Practical notes

This is one remarkable room and a few ordinary ones, and an hour is enough for most people. Until somebody explains it, the ceiling reads as painted boards with brass knobs on. The stair to the mechanism is narrow and steep. Franeker is a quiet small town with little else to fill an afternoon.

Nearby

Leeuwarden is twenty minutes away; Harlingen and the Wadden ferries are close.