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The grounds of the Palais des Nations (seat of the United Nations Office at Geneva) contain many fine objects donated by Member States, private sponsors and artists. The Celestial Sphere (also known as the Armillary sphere) in the Ariana Park of the Palais des Nations is the best-known of these. The huge - over four meter diameter - Celestial Sphere is the chef d'oeuvre of the American sculptor Paul Manship (1885–1966). It was donated in 1939 by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation to what was then the League of Nations building. Known also as the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Sphere of the Palais des Nations it is today a symbol of Geneva International and of Geneva as the centre of dialogue and peace. ==History== Contacted in late 1935 by the Board of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Manship was asked to provide an idea for a memorial to President of the United States Woodrow Wilson as the founding father of the League of Nations. At that time the Palais des Nations was still under construction. The first idea for Manship’s contribution to the new buildings was to have him design two doors to the Assembly Hall from the Halle des Pas Perdus. Both the artist and the donor, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, rejected this idea because doors would not be suitable for a memorial. Manship then proposed a large-scale version of the present celestial sphere, which he had developed after years of study. It is based upon several earlier versions, including the Aero Memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It differs from these in that the Sphere is supported upon the backs of four tortoises, taken from his models for the gates to the New York Bronx Zoo, which in turn rest upon a stepped socle bearing a cast representation of the Chinese "celestial sea" (Hai Shui Jiang Ya). The tortoises may therefore be thought to represent the Chinese tortoise of immortality (Ao) - an auspicious symbol from Tang times on. Other Zodiac signs come from the world's major civilizations, both past and present. Manship described this sphere in the following words: “The representation of the heavenly constellations is derived from Babylonia and Assyria: the Greeks and Latins added their names and gave the constellations a local significance in some cases and I have adhered as closely as possible to the ancient forms. Thus the star, Aldebaran, which represents the eye of Taurus, dictates the character of the design, as is also the case of Regulus, Leo’s Heart, and so with all the constellations. The forms and attitudes of the figures have been made to correspond firstly with the positions and the meanings of the emblems themselves. After that the inter-relationship of the constellations was designed to create a harmonious ensemble”. In a letter written by Ham Armstrong to Arthus Sweetser, dated 30 June 1935, we read that the building committee considered the Celestial Sphere, which they had seen in Paris, superb, not only in originality of conception, but in delicacy of execution and in spirituality of meaning. However, two obstacles were foreseen; first, that it would cost more than the budget available and, second, that it would be difficult to obtain the approval of committee in New York and Geneva on anything so novel and non-utilitarian. Nonetheless, Manship's proposal for a monumental celestial sphere was accepted and a commission for the project was awarded to him in April 1936. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Celestial Sphere Woodrow Wilson Memorial」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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