Sphere Within A Sphere

Sphere Within A Sphere (Italian Sfera con sfera) is a strange looking sculpture made out of polished bronze and depicts a large damaged sphere fitted inside another larger sphere with torn surface. Created by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro it was first installed in the courtyard of Vatican Museum in 1990. Thereafter replicas of the sculpture have been installed in several locations across the World. Currently it can be seen at following locations.

1. Vatican Museums, Vatican City
2. Freedom Square (Piazzale della Libertà), Pesaro, Italy
3. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
4. UN Headquarters, New York, USA
5. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
6. Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, USA No Image
7. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, USA No Image
8. de Young Museum, San Francisco, USA No Image
9. University of California, Berkeley, USA
10. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran
11. Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan

No one knows for sure what the sculptor tried to depict in this art work. Checking on the Net, I came across many interpretations, some of which are being quoted below;

• "the fractured outer surface of the sphere reveals a complex inner sphere that represents the harsh difficulties of the modern world at the end of the second millennium." - New York Times Daily Photo
• "a sphere growing inside another sphere, as if a world torn asunder by the horrors of war and suffering could still give birth to another world: a more prosperous and just world, within an international frame of peace and progress for generations to come. What better image for illustrating the primary role the United Nations are called upon to play: a global quest to build a new world wherein all peoples can co-exist peacefully and develop in freedom." - From a speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Mr Lamberto Dini while dedicating the sphere at the UN Headquarters (Source: New York Times Daily Photo)
• "The inner ball represents the Earth and outer ball represents Christianity. ^{[citation needed]}" - Wikipedia
• "our world aging, changing and breaking wide open with a new and emerging one with all of it’s glorious imperfections demanding to be heard" - A  blogger.

Some more lengthy analysis on the subject can be seen in this Flickr page and in this web page.

I am giving below images from several locations and leave it to my readers to make their own interpretation of the art work.

Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Image from Flickr is by Oggie Dog

Freedom Square (Piazzale della Libertà), Pesaro, Italy

Image Source: Google Street View

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Image from Flickr is by Brian Smithson (Old Geordie)

UN Headquarters, New York, USA

Image from Flickr is by chrisbastian44

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.

Image from Flickr is by mdmarkus66

University of California, Berkeley, USA

Image from Flickr is by sullencookie

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran

Image from Panoramio is by hajar maghbooli

Hakone Open-Air Museum, Japan

Image from Flickr is by gullevek

View locations Google Earth  / Google Maps (some of the locations are approximate)

Main source of Info: New York Times Daily Photo / Wikipedia

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