Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Terrestrial telescope
    • Setting:
      Room IX
    • Maker:
      Paolo Belletti
    • Place:
      Italian
    • Date:
      1689
    • Materials:
      cardboard, leather, paper
    • Dimensions:
      length 1730 mm
    • Inventory:
      3639
    • Terrestrial telescope (Inv. 3639)
    • Terrestrial telescope (Inv. 3639)

Terrestrial telescope consisting of seven tubes, all made of cardboard. The largest is covered with red leather (turned brown with the passage of time) with gold tooling. It contains the objective. The other tubes are covered with decorative paper in various colors. The ring enclosing the objective bears the maker's signature and the construction date: "Paolo Belletti, Bolognese Año 1689." The compound eyepiece, 38 mm in diameter, is contained in the smallest tube and consists of three lenses, one of which is missing. The lens glass has a slight green tint and contains many bubbles and some inclusions. A typical example of a terrestrial telescope of Italian manufacture.