Rare scientific instrument in National Museums Scotland’s collection marks its 1000th anniversary

The object is an astrolabe, an intricate brass instrument made in 11th century Spain, which was used for charting the position of the stars. One of Europe’s oldest surviving signed and dated astrolabes, the object was made in Cordoba by Muhammad ibn al-Saffâr, and is dated 417 AH (the Islamic calendar), which equates to 1026-1027 AD.  

The two-dimensional model, representing the apparent motions of celestial bodies, is used to observe, calculate and predict the position of the Sun and the stars; and can be applied to purposes such as time keeping, wayfinding, and astrology. 

Principal Curator of Science, Dr Rebekah Higgitt, says of the anniversary, 

“As this incredible object turns 1,000 years old, we reflect on how a single object can connect science, history and culture. It reveals to us how early scholars observed the stars and helps us understand how past learning has helped shape the modern world. We are privileged to share this story with our visitors as we mark this remarkable milestone.”  

The astrolabe is on permanent display in the National Museum of Scotland (Level 1, Natural World, Earth in Space), having recently featured in the British Museum’s Silk Roads exhibition.  

This astrolabe was gifted to the museum in 1959 by James H. Farr, who ran Wardie Garage on Ferry Road, Edinburgh. In a newspaper interview in 1960, he was quoted as saying that he purchased it in a second-hand shop in Edinburgh's Lawnmarket. He was a wide-ranging collector, from military memorabilia to locomotives and automobiles, and Secretary of the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers.