Summer 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Moon landings. Earth’s only satellite has been humankind’s constant companion, and its regular phases of waxing and waning inspired some of the earliest ways of measuring time and setting calendars. Its gravitational forces combine with those of the Sun and with the rotation of the earth to create the tides, setting the biological rhythms of sea creatures and the conditions of human navigation.
Depictions of the Moon go back thousands of years and it has played a part in many cultures’ mythologies and religious beliefs and practices; the Moon has also inspired artists and poets from Shakespeare to Shelley. To celebrate one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind, we present a selection of images drawn from College Library and the College Collections.
Woodcut by Inger Lawrence from The seafarer, Old Stile Press, 1988. ECL Ie.9.04
Kneeler in College Chapel, Memorial Chapel: Solomon’s Temple flanked by Sun and Moon, c.1959 – 1964. FDA-A.510:1/2-2017
by Stephie Coane, Curator, Modern Collections
