Humankind as a shaper of the world. The Anthroposphere in pictures and maps
2026/05/31
Humankind has been influencing its environment for a very long time. Its power to shape the environment has grown over time. Today, there is debate as to whether humankind is even exerting a geologically significant force, and whether these environmental changes will have destructive consequences for the future of humankind.
The exhibition highlights four stages of this journey prior to the onset of the large-scale transformation of the human world in the modern era. Images found in manuscripts, early prints, as well as on seals, postcards and maps dating from the 13th to the 19th century reveal spheres of human influence in the shaping of the world – so-called ‘anthropospheres’.
The exhibition begins by presenting the biblical story of creation, which shaped the Christian world view for a long time. Following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, humankind subdues the earth and creates its own garden. The second section illustrates how cities, as comfortable and fortified enclosures for human life, gradually spread out into the surrounding countryside. The third section explores how conceptual connections between the microcosm and the macrocosm influenced the perception, interpretation and measurement of the world and the cosmos. Finally, using examples of cultural landscapes both near and far, the exhibition shows how, even before the modern era, humankind shaped its environment as a ‘second nature’, transformed to serve its own purposes and intentions.
Organiser
TU Darmstadt | Institute of History | History of the Middle Ages
University and State Library Darmstadt
Venues
ULB Darmstadt
S1|20 Ground floor
Magdalenenstraße 8
64289 Darmstadt
Opening hours
Daily 8.00 a.m. to 1.00 a.m.
Contact
Andreas Göller | ULB Darmstadt
