Yesterday I had the chance to visit "the Temple" of London, a several-acre site in central London that is (usually) closed to the public, giving it an air of secrecy and intrigue. This section of the city was initially occupied by the Knights Templar - religious fighters who had returned from fighting in the Crusades. Eventually the complex was transferred to the government, and for the last several hundred years has been the site of accommodation and education for barristers and other members of the legal profession. Apparently a scene in the da Vinci Code takes place in one of the ancient buildings on site.
Two things of personal interest: First, there is a Great Hall wallpapered with coats of arms of important English families that has been used for state functions and rituals. It's made almost entirely of wood on the inside, and the time-polished edges of walls and floorboards are the products of hundreds of years of use. An evening in 1580 saw a particularly noteworthy event when Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to travel around the world, stopped in the Hall upon return. This was where he was received by the Queen, where he told of his journeys to far-away lands and encounters with foreign peoples. That must have been quite an event to have witnessed.
The other snazzy component was a pair of globes in the library (which also contains a copy of the US declaration of independence). They are known as the Molyneux Globes, dating from 1592. There were the most geographically accurate globes of the time, extremely valuable works of craftsmanship, and the first globes made in England. It was incredible to look at the globes and note differences between their geographies and modern maps. Mexico was looking a little skinny; Cuba slightly on the large side; Australia didn't exist at all! Certainly we've increased our knowledge of the Earth since then, but I imagine the makers of the Molyneux globe were pretty happy with themselves as well - England was, after all, the forefront of geographical discovery. The process of learning and discovery of our surroundings is an everlasting journey, which is much of its appeal. As Molyneux, Drake and their contemporaries were driven to understand and map their world, so too are we; in that essential way, I think we have more in common with the map-makers of 16th century England than we may like to believe. We are still at the tip of the iceberg of understanding our place in the universe.
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