Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg, 1561

UFO Woodcut Print | 1561 Historical Art | Antique UFO Illustration | Printable Vintage Broadsheet | Digital Download

Experience one of history’s most mysterious sky events with Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg, a 1561 woodcut illustration by artist Hans Glaser. This vivid scene depicts what citizens described as a celestial battle over the German city—featuring orbs, crosses, cylinders, and a strange black arrow-shaped object in the sky. A fascinating blend of medieval art, early UFO folklore, and Renaissance-era imagination.

Perfect for enthusiasts of vintage astronomical prints, alien encounter art, occult decor, and historical digital downloads.

➤ Instant digital download
➤ High-resolution file, print-ready
➤ Ideal for eclectic galleries, science fiction lovers, curiosity cabinets, or history buffs

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Print Sizes

🖼 Included Print Sizes (No Cropping Needed)

This high resolution digital file is optimized for printing at the following standard sizes, no cropping or borders required. Just download, print, and frame:

Inches	Centimeters	Suggested Use
20 x 14	50.8 x 35.6 cm	Large wall art, posters
16 x 11.5	40.6 x 29.2 cm	Living room, gallery wall
14 x 10	35.6 x 25.4 cm	Classic poster size
10 x 7	25.4 x 17.8 cm	Office, small wall frame
7 x 5	17.8 x 12.7 cm	Standard photo size
8.3 x 11.7	A4 – 21 x 29.7 cm	European standard paper size
11.7 x 16.5	A3 – 29.7 x 42 cm	International poster format (DIN-A)

 

🖨️ All sizes are print-ready at 300 DPI, maintaining the original image ratio. No cropping or borders required.

📂 Your download includes:

• 1 high resolution JPEG file (6250 x 4488 px).
• Artistic Declaration Certificate in PDF.
• Free gift: The Ages of Painting guide — a visual journey through the history of painting.

🎨 Need a different size or format?
No problem! Just send me a message and I’ll be happy to adapt it for you.

🎧 Art Review

“Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg” by Hans Glaser (1561): A 16th-Century Chronicle of the Unexplained.

Few works encapsulate such a charged tension between history, cosmology, and mystery as Hans Glaser’s hand-colored woodcut “Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg”, published on April 14, 1561. What at first appears to be a medieval scene steeped in astronomical symbolism soon reveals an unsettling modernity. It is a visual record of what many consider the first collective sighting of an unexplained aerial phenomenon, a proto-ufological chronicle that emerged centuries before radar or flying saucers.

The composition is hypnotic. An anthropomorphic sun dominates the sky, surrounded by a shower of spheres, cylinders, floating crosses, and geometric forms in red, blue, and black. At the lower center, a dark spearhead-shaped figure, almost like a shadowy craft, looms over the horizon. Below, the city of Nuremberg unfolds in meticulous detail. Its churches, houses, and walls are clearly recognizable, as if this event were at once celestial and profoundly grounded.

What Glaser offers is not a religious vision or an allegory, but a chronicle. Hundreds of Nuremberg residents reportedly witnessed what resembled an aerial battle at dawn. Objects in the sky maneuvered with intent, collided, and eventually fell in clouds of smoke beyond the city limits. The event was recorded as terrifying, with no clear theological explanation, making it one of the earliest graphic representations of an unidentified aerial phenomenon.

From a modern perspective, “Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg” has been interpreted by some as early evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Others view it as a powerful allegory of heavenly disorder during a time of political and religious conflict. Regardless of interpretation, the work radiates with an energy that surpasses its era. It serves as a document, a warning, and a marvel all at once.

Glaser’s style blends the precision of woodcut technique with a restrained yet expressive color palette. The ochres, reds, and blues create an atmosphere that is both visually striking and emotionally disconcerting. The result is a sky that does not resemble a divine firmament, but one that seems to witness something still unclassifiable by human reason.

Today, in an era shaped by artificial intelligence and drone technology, “Celestial Phenomenon Over Nuremberg” reads not only as a relic of the past but as a striking reflection of the present. Without realizing it, Hans Glaser anticipated the visual culture of unidentified aerial phenomena by four centuries. He did so with ink, fear, and a profound sense of wonder that continues to both illuminate and unsettle the skies of art.