„under a starry sky on a clear night, the hidden power of knowing speaks a language with no name“

Eliot Weinberger

It is Written in the Stars

In all times, on all continents, in all cultures, people see, experience, and feel differently. One thing, however, is common to all: the desire to gaze at the night sky.

But every culture sees its own images in its stars. From these it draws its oral traditions, onto these it projects its environments and stories – of the origin of the world and its human inhabitants, their hunting and harvests, their battles, and passions.

Seen from every point in our world, the night skies are different: each culture sees it from its own vantage point. By clicking into the globes, you will be taken directly to the respective night sky.

The network of stars spanning our world is also a global map of human history in cultural terms – and thus at once the most primordial and the most visible testimony to the connection between art and nature at the core of humankind.

Sternenhimmel Tool
Go interactively to the centre of the starry skies and their fascinating stories - a sensational journey of discovery around the globe and across the Universe.
Stories
At all times, the night sky served as a projection surface for the earthly and the supernatural. Read more about the backgrounds of the individual cultures and their starry skies.
Essays
How are constellations formed? What role does astronomy play? What did Caspar David Friedrich or Vincent van Gogh see in the firmament? The Universe is so gigantic, its topics so varied.
Interviews
From astrophysicist to DJ, from mathematician to Egyptologist: all over the world, artists and scientists engage with the phenomena of the sky in many different ways.
Multimedia
Whether with the Tuareg in Algeria, among the Inuit in Alaska or in Mesopotamia thousands of years ago: Video interviews, films, lectures and staged readings will take you to the locations.
Contributors
It is the largest possible international natural event, night after night. Learn more about the numerous contributors to the global project STERNENHIMMEL DER MENSCHHEIT.