Welcome,
Committees,
Abstracts,
Registration,
Programme &
Booklet of Abstracts,
Excursion,
Workshop IAU C4,
Links,
HVV,
Tourist,
Tours around Hamburg,
Accomodation
Welcome
Above: Port of Hamburg, Landungsbrücken,
Below: Container Port, Oevelgönne (traditional ships, lighthouse, light vessel `Elbe 3')
(Photos: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Welcome to Hamburg -- Gateway to the World
Hamburg was founded in the time of Charlemagne around 800. and is situated on the rivers Elbe, Alster and Bille. This green city has Hanseatic tradition and an inspiring cosmopolitan atmosphere. Hamburg is called `Gateway to the World'.
One can find a mix of culture (museums, music, theatres), gastronomy and nightlife. Landmarks are St. Michaelis Church (8-m-tower clock - the largest in Germany) and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall (Herzog & de Meuron, 2017) -- an architectural highlight, as well as the Chile House (a `Kontorhaus' / office building in expressionistic style, Fritz Höger, 1922-1924) with the large Warehouse complex, called `Speicherstadt' (1888) -- both Unesco World Heritage, and the modern HafenCity (Port City).
Hamburg has a maritime atmosphere (sailing ship Rickmer Rickmers 1896, cargo vessel Cap San Diego 1961, Light vessel LV13 1952, Light vessel / Feuerschiff "Elbe 3" 1888, Viermastbark "Peking" 1911) with the the third biggest container port in Europe. The old port was at Nikolaifleet (`Binnenhafen'), used for sailing ships until around 1900, then Landungsbrücken for steamships. The Navigation School was founded in 1749, in 1790 moved to the `Baumhaus'.
Astronomy and navigation played a major role: Johann Georg Repsold (1770--1830) founded a private observatory (1802--1812) on the `Stintfang' (smelt fishing) hill at Landungsbrücken. The Deutsche Seewarte (German Maritime Observatory) with Chronometer Testing Institute was built there (1875).
In addition, the Altona Observatory, Palmaille 9, famous for surveying (Danmark, Hamburg, Kingdom of Hanover), existed from 1821 to 1873 with Heinrich Christian Schumacher (1780--1850) as first director.
The *new' Hamburg Observatory with Navigation School was founded at `Millerntor' (Gate of the Windmills) in 1825. A monument for Repsold (1833) markes the place today. For timekeeping a time ball was erected on the Kaispeicher A (a brick warehouse, now Elbphilharmonie) in 1876, which was in use until 1934.
The Millerntor Observatory was replaced by the Museum of Hamburg History, founded in 1908, built by Fritz Schumacher (1869--1947), and opened in 1922. The (new) Hamburg Observatory got an impressive Astronomy Park Ensemble, built by Albert Erbe (1906--1912) in Bergedorf.
The SEAC conference will bring together researchers, scholars, and enthusiasts from around the world. They will explore how astronomy, culture, and instruments intersect in various contexts. The conference will examine historical and modern methods of timekeeping, navigation, and land surveying. These practices have played key roles in shaping societies and their understanding of the cosmos.
General Information:
Locations
- Centre for History of Science and Technology,
Geomatikum, University of Hamburg
Bundesstrasse 55 Geomatikum, 20146 Hamburg
- Hamburg Observatory, University of Hamburg,
Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg
Deadlines
- Dec. 31, 2024 -- Website, first version
- Jan. 15, 2025 -- Call for papers open (abstracts for lectures & posters)
- March 31, 2025 -- Call for papers end
- May 15, 2025 -- Communication if papers are accepted
- May 31, 2025 -- Registration - Deadline for presenters to pay the fee
- July 15, 2025 -- Late Registration
- August 25-30, 2025 -- SEAC Annual Meeting and Excursion
- August 31, 2025 -- Workshop: Classical Observatories and UNESCO World Heritage (IAU C.C4)
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Committees
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC):
- Prof. Dr. Gudrun Wolfschmidt (University of Hamburg, Germany)
- Prof. Dr. Rita Gautschy (University of Basel, Switzerland)
- Dr. Michael Rappenglück (Gilching, Germany)
- Dr. Georg Zotti (Vienna, Austia)
- Prof. Manuela Incerti, PhD (Ferrara, Italy)
- Dr. A. César González-García (Santiago de Compostela, Spain)
- Prof. Marc Frincu, PhD (West University of Timisoara, Romania)
- Prof. Dr. Penka Maglova-Stoeva (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria)
- Dr. Frank Prendergast (Technological University Dublin, Ireland)
- Prof. Kim Malville, PhD (University of Colorado, USA)
- Dr. Burkard Steinrücken (Recklinghausen, Germany)
Assistants -- Helfer
- Astrid Wokke (Bremen, Germany)
- Dr. Katrin Cura (GNT, Universität Hamburg)
- Dr.cand. Dipl.-Phys. Yang-Hyun Choi (GNT, Universität Hamburg)
- Dr.cand. Dipl.-Phys. Carsten Busch (GNT, Universität Hamburg)?
- Dr.cand. Heidi Tauber, M.A. (GNT, Universität Hamburg)
- Dr.cand. Dipl.-Phys. Björn Kunzmann (GNT, Universität Hamburg)?
- Dipl.-Ing. Jürgen Gottschalk (GNT, Universität Hamburg)
Local Organizing Committee (LOC):
- Gudrun Wolfschmidt (GNT, Universität Hamburg)
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Deadline for Abstracts
Topics of the Abstracts:
We cordially invite you to present and discuss your contributions on the topics of
- timekeeping
- navigation
- surveying
- cultural astronomy
- archaeoastronomy
- ethnoastronomy
- history of science
- heritage of astronomy
Relationships between cultural astronomy and other disciplines
(e.g. archaeology, anthropology, architecture, art, metrology, philosophy) can also be discussed.
Authors are required to send an extended abstract clearly explaining the background,
the data, the results, and the conclusions with the following requirements:
- ca. 500-700 words
- at least 3 references
- 3-5 keywords
- up to 2 color images may be included (300dpi)
- a short biographical information
- please send it in Word or LaTeX
Please indicate whether your contribution is intended
as an oral presentation or as a poster contribution.
Only one abstract per person as first author will be accepted!
Deadline for abstracts: March 31, 2025.
Please send your abstract to SEAC email
All accepted abstracts will be published in an abstract booklet.
Registration - Conference fee - SEAC Travel Grants
Deadline: May 31, 2025.
Registration Form 
(will be updated)
Conference fee
Please look at Public transport and Deutschlandticket (book in July!)
Early Bird:
.....- Euro for SEAC or GfA members
.....- Euro for Students
.....- Euro for non members
.....- Accompanying person (only for guided tours and excursion)
ca. 50.- .....- Dinner
ca. 25.- .....- Excursion to Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein
Tickets for the museums and the church included
(but you need to have your own public transport ticket;
there is no lunch or dinner included)
Late Registration - until 15 July 2025:
.....- Euro for SEAC or GfA members,
.....- Euro for Students
.....- Euro for non members
SEAC Travel Grants for Master Students, PhDs, Postdocs
A grant worth 500 Euros will be offered by SEAC to young scientists working in cultural astronomy. Applicants must be postgraduate students working on either a Masters or a PhD degree with a subject on some aspect of astronomy in culture or must have completed such a degree not earlier than 2020. Applicants may be not older than 35. The grant will be presented upon registration at the conference. The process of selection will be under the responsibility of the Board of SEAC. The applications together with an abstract of 600 words plus bibliography should be sent no later than 31 May 2025 (SEAC-2025-email). Please include
- letter of motivation
- your abstract
- a letter of reference from you (former) advisor.
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Programme
Booklet of Abstracts
(will be updated)
Hamburg, Geomatikum, Monday, August 25, 2025
Hamburg, Geomatikum, Tuesday, August 26, 2025
- .... h Lectures
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Planetarium Hamburg
(Photos: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
- 18.30 -- 21 h
Planetarium Hamburg,
Linnering 1 (Stadtpark), 22299 Hamburg
- 18.30 -- 19.30 h
Aby Warburg (1866-1929) Exhibition --
Cultural History of Astronomy and Astrology (Mnemosyne),
originally opened in 1930 in the Planetarium Hamburg.
- 19.30 h -- Public Lecture - Öffentlicher Abendvortrag
Dr. Michael Rappenglück (Gilching):
Humans and the Cosmos:
From the World Cave to the Big Bang --
Anthropology, Ecospheres, and Cultural Cosmologies
Hamburg Observatory, Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg-Bergedorf
Hamburg Observatory, Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg-Bergedorf
Library of Hamburg Observatory
(Photo. Susanne M. Hoffmann)
- 10:00-13:00 h Lectures - Vorträge
... Session - Hamburger Sternwarte
Chair: ...
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- 11.00-11:30 h Kaffeepause / Coffee break
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- 14:00-15:00 h Lectures
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- 14:30-15:00 h Kaffeepause / Coffee break
- 2-hour Workshop Proposal by Georg Zotti, VRVis, Vienna, Austria:
Creating virtual panorama horizons and/or Skycultures for Stellarium
The free and open-source desktop planetarium Stellarium (Zotti et al, 2021) is a highly popular tool for cultural astronomy research. One popular feature is the use of horizon panoramas to investigate and simulate rising or setting orientations. For such simulation, the orientation and positioning accuracy of the photographs is important.
Another probably unique feature of Stellarium is the display of constellations and star names of other cultures. Over the years, the original file formats limited some important options. In 2025, a new file format has finally been introduced, and while version 25.1 already makes use of it, the full spectrum of new options will only be available in version 25.2, to be release in late June, 2025.
Tycho Brahe's stay (1597 to 1599)
in the Renaissance Water Castle "Wandesburg" (*1568)
of the Counts of Rantzau, Woodcut by Peter Lindeberg (1593).
Tycho portrait in his publication
"Astronomiae instauratae mechanica" Wandsbeck 1598.
- Short visit in Hamburg-Wandsbek:
Bust of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
at "Wandsbek Markt" (U1) in Hamburg,
and the site of the Rantzau Castle, Schloßgarten 16-18.
A poem by Matthias Claudius (1740-1815) in 1774
deals with Brahe's stay at Wandesburg.
Melkeveien (Milky Way), Frida Hansen, Oslo (1898)
(© Maria Thrun, MK&G)
- Evening: The important Museums in Hamburg
are open on Thursday evening,
cf. Museums in Hamburg:
MARKK, MK&G, Art Gallery.
Hamburg Observatory, Friday, August 29, 2025
Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg-Bergedorf
1-m-Reflector, Carl Zeiss Jena (1911), Hamburg Observatory
(Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt, © 3D-pano)
- 10:00-13:00 h Lectures
... Session - Hamburger Sternwarte
Chair: ...
- .... h - ....:
....
- .... h - ....:
....
- 11.00-11:30 h Kaffeepause / Coffee break
- .... h Lectures
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Chair: ....
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- 13:00-14:00 h - Mittagessen / Lunch -
- 14:00-15:00 h Lectures
. Session
Chair: ....
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- 15:00-15.30 h Kaffeepause / Coffee break
- General Assembly of the European Society for Astronomy in Culture (SEAC)
- Generalversammlung der Gesellschaft für Archäoastronomie (GfA)
Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Sailing Ship Rickmer Rickmers
(Photos: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
- 20 h - Dinner
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Excursion, Saturday, August 30, 2025
7 Towers of Lübeck (2 Cathedral, Aegidien, Petri, 2 Marien, Jakobi)
(Nuremberg Schedel Chronicles (1493), f 265-266)
For the excursion, you need either the Schleswig-Holstein-Ticket or the Deutschlandticket.
Please look at Public transport and Deutschlandticket
Lübeck: the chief city of the Hanseatic League 1358 - an association of towns for the protection of trading interests.
Lübeck, 14 km from the Baltic Sea.
"Liubice" (Old-Lübeck, founded by Slavs in 819); it was re-founded as "Lubeke" by Adolf II Count of Schauenburg and Holstein in 1143,
Transfer of the diocese to Lübeck in 1163 - the first cathedral in Lübeck was consecrated,
1226 Free Imperial City by Frederick II.
The Stecknitz Canal (1398) greatly facilitated the shipping of salt from Lüneburg.
Lübeck was in the 15th century the second largest city (after Cologne) in northern Germany, with 22,000 inhabitants.
After the "discovery" of the Americas, Lübeck's economy declined, and Hamburg with the connection to the North Sea became leading in trade and leading the Hanse.
Left: Lübeck, Astronomical Clock in St. Mary's church,
Right: original Astronomical Clock in St. Annen-Museum
(Photos: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Highlight: Lübeck, Astronomical Clock (1405/07)
St. Annen-Museum & Marienkirche/St. Mary's church
- Marienkirche/St. Mary's church (*1251),
the mother church of Brick Gothic style -
the highest brick vault in the world at 38.5m, 120m long, and twin towers 124m high
Astronomical Clock and "Dance of Death", 15th-century frescoes,
Schüsselbuden 13, 23552 Lübeck
- St. Annen-Museum
- City Walk: Lübeck, Historical Town
(UNESCO World Heritage-listed Old Town since 1987) --
Holstentor (1478) - "Concordia domi, foris pax" ("Concord at home, peace outside"),
and Castle Gate / Burgtor (1444) - remnants of the medieval fortifications.
Rathaus (city hall), built in Gothic and Renaissance style,
Alleys and courtyards in Lübeck.
- European Hanseatic Museum Lübeck - 800 years of Hanseatic history
An der Untertrave 1, 23552 Lübeck
- Museum Holstentor - Holsten Gate Museum (1464-1478),
Holstentorplatz, 23552 Lübeck
- St. Catherine's Church (1300),
church of the former Franciscan monastery
Königstraße, corner of Glockengießerstraße, 23552 Lübeck
- Niederegger Marzipan Salon
J.G. Niederegger GmbH & Co. KG, Breitestrasse 89, 23552 Lübeck
- Museum House Hanseatic City of Gdansk,
Engelsgrube 66, 23552 Lübeck
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Workshop: Classical Observatories and UNESCO World Heritage (IAU C.C4) and WG "Windows to the Universe - Classical and Modern Observatories"
1-m-Zeiss Reflecting Telescope (1911) of Hamburg Observatory (Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Aims and Scope
This workshop aims to highlight the outstanding astronomical heritage represented across many European observatories and consider their merits as candidates for seeking UNESCO World Heritage status.
UNESCO awards World Heritage status to sites judged to have "Outstanding Universal Value". Astronomical connections have provided the basis for several such assessments, for instance monuments with alignments to the solstices (e.g., Newgrange in Ireland), observatories with connections to time keeping and navigation (e.g., Greenwich, UK), and mechanical models of the Solar System (e.g., Eise Eisinga Planetarium, Netherlands).
The classical form of the astronomical observatory originated in Europe with many well-preserved examples from the 17th century onwards still extant. In some cases these observatories also remain as active centres of astronomy, where research, education and/or public outreach in the sciences are conducted. These provide prime candidates for possible future nominations for UNESCO World Heritage. In Ireland the historic observatories of Armagh, Birr and Dunsink have come together to pursue such a nomination. Birr and Dunsink have just been placed on the UNESCO Tentative List for Ireland by the Irish Government (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, 18 April 2025).
The intent of this session is to highlight the outstanding astronomical heritage represented across many European observatories and ask whether they be suitable for inclusion in the IAU's list of "Outstanding Astronomical Heritage" (OAH). This may also include observatories that no longer exist but have made significant scientific contributions (e.g. Gotha in Germany, Uraniborg in Denmark).
Further, we ask whether some might also be considered for future trans-national UNESCO nominations arising from several countries? While the astronomical heritage must be foremost in the applications, an extensive management plan for the site preservation is also a requirement. Within this plan the cultural and educational values of historic observatories will need to prominent. Thus, attaining UNESCO World Heritage status will also leverage important societal values such as the public communication of science.
We will also consider the fate of observatories which are no longer in active use. For instance, in Potsdam the main dome has been transformed into a library, whereas in contrast to Cambridge and Meudon where they are falling into disrepair.
Questions that might be asked include:
- The requirements for an observatory to be considered as Outstanding Astronomical Heritage?
- The requirements needed to consider an observatory as a monument for accreditation for UNESCO Word Heritage?
- What defines a "Classical Observatory" from a cultural viewpoint?
Challenges that are encountered in running Classical Observatories include:
- How to keep historic telescopes working and relevant to audiences?
- What can we learn from historic observatory libraries and archives?
- How can an observatory on the UNESCO World Heritage list proceed with undertaking modern cutting-edge research?
- How do historic observatories manage the balance between visitors' expectations (black holes - wow!) versus historic reality (transit telescopes and cataloguing - boring!)?
- How might we retain observatory domes once they have stopped being actively used for research?
Abstracts
Deadline for abstracts: May 31, 2025.
Abstract: ca. 500 words, at least 3 references, 3-5 keywords,
up to 2 color images may be included (300dpi)
Please send your abstract to Gudrun Wolfschmidt email and
Michael Burton email
Main Building of Hamburg Observatory
(Photo: Gudrun Wolfschmidt)
Committees
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC):
- Michael Burton (Armagh Observatory, UK)
- Peter Gallagher (Dunsink Observatory, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies)
- Gudrun Wolfschmidt (University of Hamburg, Germany)
- Giangiacomo Gandolfi (INAF, Rome, Italy)
- Ileana Chinnici (INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo)
- David Valls-Gabaud (CNRS, Observatoire de Paris)
- Rebekah Higgitt (National Museums Scotland)
Local Organizing Committee (LOC):
- Gudrun Wolfschmidt (Hamburg Observatory, Germany)
Registration and Conference fee
Registration form
(will be updated)
