Urania - Versailles, France
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 48.396 E 002° 07.036
31U E 435185 N 5406332
Urania is the muse of astronomy.
Waymark Code: WMD0W3
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/03/2011
Views: 14
This 1684 marble sculpture depicts Urania standing and wearing a flowing gown. In each hand she holds an object which I can't identify...perhaps a scroll or chart and its container?
The artist is Martin Carlier.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us that Urania also became the muse of Christian poets and
"Her name has been used to name astronomical observatories such as the Urania in Berlin, Budapest, Vienna, Zurich and Antwerp and Uraniborg on the island of Hven. The official seal of the U.S. Naval Observatory portrays Urania. There is a Urania Street in New Orleans, between Polymnia ("Polyhymnia") and Felicity Streets. Hr.Ms. Urania is a sail training vessel for the Royal Netherlands Naval College. There has been a Hr. Ms. Urania in the Royal Netherlands Navy since 1832. Urania is also the name of a popular female-fronted rock band in Honduras.
Urania Cottage was a refuge for fallen women established by the writer Charles Dickens in Lime Grove, Shepherd’s Bush, London in the late 1840s. The funding was provided by millionaire and philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts, of the well-known banking family. Some of the inmates may have provided inspiration for certain of the female characters in Dickens' novels.
At Columbia University (end of 18th century) there was a Urania Society, for the improvement of oratory skills, felicity of composition and aptitude to debate philosophical topics. DeWitt Clinton joined that society.
On 9 November 1970, the Urania Trust was formed in London. The aims of the Trust are to further the advancement of education by the teaching of the relationship between man’s knowledge of beliefs about the heavens and every aspect of his art, science, philosophy and religion.
In University of São Paulo, the logo of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences bears Urania."