- Author: Athanasius Kircher
- Date: c. 1665
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Excellent
- Inches: 14" x 23"
- Centimeters: 35.90 x 58.97
- Product ID: 003762
Schema Corporis Solaris. From D'Onder-Ardse Weereld in Haar Goddelijk Maaksel en wonderbare uitwerkselen aller Dingen; Athanasius Kircherus in XII Boeken nauwkeurig beschreven. Verat in II Deelem.
Athanasius Kircher was a celebrated Jesuit Scholar and one of the first compilers of semi-scientific knowledge about the physical features of the Earth. During a visit to southern Italy in 1638, Kircher explored the crater of Mount Vesuvius. Shortly before an eruption, he found an opportunity to examine the inside of the crater. Mundus subterraneus is a collection of vividly illustrated depictions of various geological features of the Earth, as well as celestial bodies like the Sun and Moon. His interpretations were based on personal observations and beliefs about how the world's geological systems worked. He suggested the tides and currents of the ocean flowed through subterranean tunnels, and the mountains were the exposed skeletal structure of the Earth.