Category: 900s

The last two contests were both from Martin de Bock – this week was his submission, and last week was because I forgot which social media channel Martin had used to send it to me! Oops.

The Munsterkerk (Munster) is a 13th-century church dedicated to Our Lady in the Dutch town of Roermond. Its remarkable front towers are 55 meter in height. The Munsterkerk is one of the most important examples of Late Romanesque architecture in the Netherlands. The Roermond Minster is the only surviving part of an abbey, the rest of which was demolished in 1924. The church was renovated by architect P. J. H. Cuypers from Roermond between 1863 and 1890; during this renovation, the two front towers were added while after a smaller baroque bell tower on the nave was removed, and the originally octagonal eastern towers were replaced by square ones.

The renovation of the Roermond Minster was highly controversial, but Cuypers continued to renovate the Minster according to his plan.

In 1992, the church was damaged by an earthquake which destroyed the two eastern towers, which were rebuilt shortly after.

The church is a Rijksmonument, and is part of the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites.

Found before the hint:

• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Graham Hedley
• Lighthouse
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• Phil Ower
• krenek
• Bernd
• Garfield
• Angie CF

After the hint :

• Bas van Limpt
• Ashwini Agrawal

Identified the correct submitter :

• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Lighthouse
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield

This week’s submitter will remain unknown as there was a mix-up in submissions.

Resort Marina Oolderhuuske near Roermond, NL contains a marina as well as chalets for rent. It is one of the best-equipped marinas between Maas, Moselle and Rhine in the heart of the 3000-hectare Limburg Maasplassen near Roermond. Renting a chalet or (floating) house is also among the options. Furthermore, they offer several extra services during the summer season (April to October), including a bakery/shop with oven-fresh bread rolls, and there is then an entertainment program for young children. A cycle-foot ferry allows one to easily get off the island.

Found before the hint:

• Paul Voestermans
• hhgygy
• Phil Ower
• Graham Hedley
• krenek
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Bernd
• Martin de Bock
• Felix Bossert
• Angie CF
• Ashwini Agrawal
• Lighthouse
• Bas van Limpt

After the hint :

• Gru Yerr

This week’s submission was from krenek.

The Broken Chair is a monumental wooden sculpture in Geneva, Switzerland, designed by Swiss artist Daniel Berset and constructed by Louis Genève. Standing 12 meters tall and weighing 5.5 tons, it depicts a giant chair with a broken leg and is located across from the Palace of Nations.

Originally installed in 1997 by Handicap International, the sculpture was meant to last only three months to encourage nations to sign the Ottawa Treaty, which bans landmines. However, due to strong public support, it remained in place and was later reinstalled in 2007 to advocate for a ban on cluster munitions. Today, it serves as a powerful symbol reminding politicians and diplomats of the devastating impact of landmines and cluster bombs.

Found before the hint:

• Martin de Bock
• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• Graham Hedley
• Lighthouse
• Paul Voestermans
• Andy McConnell
• krenek
• Phil Ower
• Ashwini Agrawal
• Felix Bossert
• Garfield
• Bas van Limpt
• Angie CF

After the hint:

• Bernd

Identified the correct submitter :

• hhgygy
• Eloy Cano
• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• krenek
• Angie CF

Contest #915 was submitted by Karel, the administrator of WhereOnGoogleEarth prior to Paul and Andrew taking over.

The Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium is an 18th-century orrery in Franeker, Friesland, Netherlands. It is currently a museum and open to the public. The orrery has been on the top 100 Dutch heritage sites list since 1990. In September 2023, it received the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the oldest working orrery in the world.

The orrery was built from 1774 to 1781 by Eise Eisinga, a wool carder and amateur astronomer. Eise Eisinga’s mechanical planetarium is built into the timber roof of the living room ceiling of his historic canal house. William I, Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands, was so impressed with the planetarium, he purchased the house and it became a royal planetarium. The museum consists of the planetarium room, a screening room where documentaries are shown, and special exhibits based on modern astronomy. Other parts on permanent display are Eisinga’s former wool combing establishments and a collection of historical astronomical instruments. Those instruments in the collection include Georgian telescopes, 18th century octants and a tellurium, an educational model of the Sun, Earth and Moon.

An orrery is a planetarium, a working model of the Solar System. The orrery is painted with royal blue glimmer and outlined in shiny gold paint. The Sun is painted at the center of the ceiling. The Earth is represented by a golden orb dangling on a wire. The zodiac is also depicted. The clockwork-like mechanical planetarium moves as it does in reality at a reduced scale. The planetarium is very exact, but is not perfect. The pendulum, for instance, is made of a single type of metal so it is influenced by temperature fluctuations. The “face” of the model looks down from the ceiling of what used to be his living room, with most of the mechanical works in the space above the ceiling. It is driven by a pendulum clock, which has 9 weights or ponds. The planets move around the model in real time, automatically. (A slight “re-setting” must be done by hand every four years to compensate for the February 29th of a leap year.) The planetarium includes a display for the current time and date. The plank that has the year numbers written on it has to be replaced every 22 years.

To create the gears for the model, 10,000 handmade nails were used. In addition to the basic orrery, there are displays of the phase of the moon and other astronomical phenomena. The orrery was constructed to a scale of 1:1,000,000,000,000 (1 millimetre: 1 million kilometres).

Found before the hint:

• Martin de Bock
• Graham Hedley
• hhgygy
• Paul Voestermans
• krenek
• Eloy Cano
• Garfield
• Lighthouse
• Philip Ower
• Bas van Limpt
• Angie CF

After the hint:

• Bernd

Correctly identified Karel as the submitter:

• Martin de Bock
• Paul Voestermans
• Eloy Canó
• Lighthouse
• Philip Ower