The Copernican System

Filled with detail from mythology and symbolism from the 16th century, this tapestry shows the sun and planets and their relationship with the Earth. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer, mathematician and artist who originated the revolutionary idea that the Earth was not the center of the universe and that the sun did not revolve around the Earth. Through his persistent observations of the movements of the stars and planets, Copernicus, despite the disbelief of his contemporaries, postulated his theory of “heliocentrism”. The Copernicus system, described in his book “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”, details his conclusions about the nature of the Earth’s orbit. Here in this tapestry we see the sun, with it’s symbolic beaming face representing the giving of life, rightly in the center of the model, with the Earth’s four seasons caused by its orbit, surrounded beyond by the astrological signs and decorated with mythical beings in the heavens including angels and cherubs. The detailed border completes this tapestry. This tapestry is unlined and has a tunnel for easy hanging.