In the 1930s, the growing light pollution in the skies above St. Peter’s in Rome prompted the Vatican observatory to move its telescopes from the Vatican walls surrounding St. Peter’s to Castle Gandolfo, south of Rome. But those St. Peter skies are not the subject of this post.
This post is about the skies of Mexico, as portrayed in artwork of “San Pedro” restaurant in Charlestown, Indiana! In this St. Peter’s — whose ceiling is strung with cutout flags of Our Lady of Guadalupe, of St. Juan Diego, of the modern basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and of “Reyna de Mexico” — the skies are clear and dark, and the stars are many.
This bit of astronomy in art and architecture (click here for all my “Astronomy in Art & Architecture” posts here at Sacred Space Astronomy) is found primarily on the booths of the restaurant, in paintings above the booth seats. All the restaurant’s most astronomically-oriented paintings feature men under the open skies of the desert, leaning against a cactus (ouch?), often with a campfire, as in this painting, which features two men and the sun.
These two booths also feature the sun, portrayed more dramatically.
The two booths below (which at first glance look identical but are not) are interesting in that they portray night (with stars) on the left, and day on the right.
Note how the sun and the moon are the same object in the center. The stars of the night side are nicely done. On many of the booths, stars like this spill around to that part of the booth that faces the floor tables of the restaurant.
Of course, you never see the sort of thing portrayed above in the real sky. There are never stars visible against the dark sky on one horizon, and bright twilight on the other. But the effect is cool. Hey, it’s art, not science.
But perhaps because I’m a scientist and not an artist, I think the coolest artwork in San Pedro is the art that features the moon, like in these two booths.
No, a huge moon with a face like this is certainly not a realistic portrayal of the night sky. Still, the crescent moon and stars are things you can actually see together in the night sky.
As I have often mentioned in these “Art & Architecture” posts, when I first began doing them (nine years ago now) I thought it would be relatively easy to find astronomical stuff portrayed in art and architecture. It has been a lot harder to find than I ever expected — except, in art from Mexican culture. Click here or here for examples. The latter link really shows this!
Since my wife and I eat at “San Pedro” pretty regularly, we get to enjoy this astronomical art all the time.
