NHM: Earth Hall Globe

The narrow format means that this looks better in large ("L").

This is the globe sculpture in the Earth Hall at the Natural History Museum. It is made of iron, zinc, and copper, and the escalator up to the upper galleries of the Red Zone passes right through the middle of it. The Earth Hall is a rather impressive atrium, and the dark (slate) walls are decorated with a celestial map (which is sandblasted into the slate). There are various things to see in the hall including special rocks, minerals, and fossils (such as a piece of moon rock, and a large ammonite). I've blipped another view of the hall (and some of its exhibits) before here.

The globe makes me roll my eyes: almost every time I hear someone talking about it (in the museum or elsewhere) the snippets follow a common theme...
"Oh yeah, the rotating globe!"
"Why isn't it turning today?"
"I'm sure the globe used to turn..."

The globe certainly did used to turn, but apparently pieces of metal fell off it so they stopped it turning (PDQ) and now it is a static sculpture. I believe the day when the incident took place was actually the health and safety officers' favourite day ever: they actually had something genuine to respond to!

I took this photo on my way into the museum in the morning as a backup blip; I was hoping to visit the spirit collection (where specimens are housed in jars full of preserving spirits) but that plan fell through, so my backup shot will have to do for today!

p.s. With thanks to Cheeseminer for suggesting an improvement in composition: it is no longer SOOC, but I have removed a slice from the top (containing only more bright windows and a spotlight on one side...) and it looks considerably more satisfying.