Monument to Johannes Kepler
(Courtyard of the former Kepler Museum)
Karlova / Anenská, Staré Město
Prague, September 2024
“Sadly, for an astronomy fan like myself, the Kepler museum is no longer operational. This museum was located in the house Kepler had lived in during his 12 years in Prague. During this time, he finished his work on his first and second laws. It’s unfortunate visitors are not allowed into the house for now, since the museum closed. However, you can still pop into its courtyard, to see the bronze sculpture in its centre. This sculpture, although small, is striking and assertive in its own way. At its centre is a globe representing the sun, with five circles around it. An elliptic with Kepler’s name in Art Deco font crosses the circles that ring the globe. The even spacing of the circles and how they grow and shrink have a harmonious quality to them, and the diagonal elliptic gives it a sense of movement. During Kepler’s lifetime, he was intrigued by the “music of the spheres”. A concept that each celestial body has an ever-changing song related to its speed in orbit. This sculpture, with its harmonious composition, might have taken inspiration from Kepler’s work on this topic.” (Secrets and Sights of Old Town Prague, The Next Crossing)
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