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Shakespeare & Beyond

Miniature models of the Globe—with Folger connections

man with a scale model of the Globe Theatre
man with a scale model of the Globe Theatre

There is a long tradition of attempting to reconstruct the 1599 Globe, the multi-level open-air playhouse where many of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed. It will always be difficult to determine various details about the 1599 Globe, which burned to the ground on June 29, 1613, at a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, when an onstage cannon set fire to it. Still, documentary research and, in more recent years, archaeology, have provided some answers.

The most famous of these replicas may be Shakespeare’s Globe, a full-scale reconstruction in London near the original site of the Globe that used archaeological discoveries to inform its design, but many other models, including much smaller ones, have also been created by artists, scholars, and enthusiasts. Since Shakespeare wrote some of his plays with the Globe in mind, constructing large and small replicas helps us to visualize those early performances and how the Globe may have shaped his work.