NARRATOR: Here, curator Stefan Heidemann is joined by Ellen Kenny:

STEFAN HEIDEMANN: We look here on a scientific object which is also an object of art. …It is an astrolabe, an instrument with which you can determine the stars. The stars give directions where you are and what time it is. …but more important is the direction of the Quibla, which is the direction to Mecca in order to find the right way to prostrate in your prayers and to find out the shifting prayer times. So you put your thumb into the ring at the top…and then, if you look at the back of the instrument, there is a tube. You look through the tube to a star, and then you adjust the dials on the front… And you see little spikes protruding from these rings. These show different stars and objects on the celestial sphere.

ELLEN KENNY: This is actually one of the best documented pieces of art in our collection. It has an inscription around it which explains that it was made by a Rasulid prince of Yemen. And we have the year of its making, which is 1291. And this prince was…an author of a number of scientific treatises. Among the treatises which he authored is what we believe to be an autographed copy in a library in Cairo which contains a description of devices like this, including this exact device.

STEFAN HEIDEMANN: Many princes of that time in Syria, Egypt, and in Yemen were poets and authors of books and, in this case, also astronomers.

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