A large globe that’s been turning in the lobby of the Des Moines Register’s building since 1950 will be relocated this week to the State Historical Museum. Museum curator Leo Landis says it could be on display later this year.

“That is what the Register said when they brought it in…they wanted to highlight the world in their lobby, and we know that’s just as important today if not more so and it’s important for us to preserve and save it,” Landis says. Workers at the Register moved out of the old building in downtown Des Moines in June of this year.

The new headquarters are located just three blocks away – on the 4th and 5th floors of the Capital Square building. The six-foot wide, 200 pound globe will be moved this Wednesday. “We think there might be sightseers as it comes out of the building because that’s when it will be visible,” Landis says. “We’ll knock out the east wall and move the globe onto an air-ride truck and it will travel down Locust Street to the State Historic Museum.”

The globe in Des Moines has a twin, in Cedar Rapids, which was a landmark at the Eastern Iowa Airport, and later, at the Ground Transportation Center. It’s now being restored for public display at Kirkwood Community College in the next 6 to 8 weeks.