1570 Constantinopel des Griechischen Lenserchumbs Hauptstatt/im Land Thracia…
By: Sebastian Münster
Date: 1570 (circa) Basel
Dimensions: 10.75 x 15 inches (including text) (27 x 38 cm)
This is one of the earliest published maps of the great city of Constantinople as it appeared approximately a century following its conquest in 1453 by Ottoman Emperor Fatih Mehmed (Mehmed the Conqueror).
The hand colored map is accompanied by text in German on both the face and verso. Munster’s map of the great city of Constantinople, while geographically imperfect, conveys a sense of the grandeur of the city which had been the capital of the eastern Roman Empire from the time of Constantine the Great till its walls were felled by invading Ottomans in May 1453.
One particularly interesting feature of the map is the depiction of Hagia Sophia, the great edifice built under the reign of Justinian in the mid 6th century. When Fatih Mehmed and his army broke through the city walls in 1453, he rode straight to its entrance and immediately declared this magnificent Byzantine cathedral to be a mosque, and ordered the construction of a wooden minaret for his muezzin to call his people to prayer.
Though the original minaret has not survived, records indicate that it was extant for some time and its height extended. Within a few decades, subsequent sultans ordered the construction of additional minarets. The cathedral assumed its current (approximate) appearance following the construction of minarets designed by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in the sixteenth century. The image of Hagia Sophia in the map is inaccurate in several regards, most obviously in the absence of the minarets which had been constructed some years before the map was published.
The city had many appelations throughout its history, all of which described its marveled beauty, its great strength of position and its impregnability. Despite the depredations by the Venetians in 1204, the city retained its beauty and allure to the extent that when Medhmed II was yet a boy he had already conceived the idea of seizing what the Ottomans often referred to as ‘The Golden Apple’, and spent his formative years with the idea of capturing the city always foremost in his thoughts.
Sebastian Münster was one of Europe’s foremost mapmakers of the 16th century. Ordained as a priest in 1512, he taught Hebrew at a number of universities, but then began to study maps and in 1525 published his first known map, a map of Germany. He wrote treatises on various topics and continued to publish maps till his death in 1552.
Condition: This map is in B condition with lovely hand coloring over a fine print impression. Apparent loss along parts of the centerfold have been professionally restored and subtle foxing add to it's age and authenticity.
Inventory #12844
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622