Frankfurt on the Oder River
description: On an off-white rectangular sheet of paper, a rectangular colorful woodcut print of the city of Frankfurt an der Oder is surrounded by a black frame and its layout is horizontal. This large sheet is actually two sheets connected in the middle. Above the image, a series of Latin words spreads along its upper frame. Under the image, four more lines of Latin can be found; the first line of text, the longest, is printed in the same size as the one above the image. The three other lines, printed below the first, decrease in length in descending order and are printed in smaller text. All words both outside and inside of the map are printed in black. At the bottom right corner, “DD 1 Anno'' is printed in small text. Within the black frame, the city-view map of Frankfurt an der Oder shows the bird’s-eye view of the Oder river, seen from one side. The image has black and white woodblock print as a base layer and on top of it are the coloring and shading added to the image by hands. This map is outstanding due to its two fold artistic interventions coming together from different artists -- the one who does the woodcut print and the one who does coloring. Other similar woodcut prints of Frankfurt an der Oder are often either without the coloring or are colored with one tone of color and lack the shading. In the background of the image is a two-colored sky with blue above and white below. Darker blue color is painted on the space where the print of the carved lines is more concentrated in the sky. Some lighter blue clouds take up the sky’s upper space and different styles of shading help define their forms. Covering most of the sky’s space, a large twisting pinkish ribbon banner with fancy font, printed “Frankfurt an der Oder 1548” and “ANNO DNI” -- which is anno domini or in the year of the Lord, is floating. This is the only place on the map with German words. On the white space of the sky, there are black printed letters, possibly suggesting the names of the buildings and sp…
creator: Sebastian Münster
source: Ptolemy and Sebastian Münster. Geographia uniuersalis, uetus et noua, complectens Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII. Basil: Henrichus Petrus, 1545.
date: 1545
contributor: Special Collections, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
rights: Rights for maps held by individual publishers and institutions. Thumbnails displayed constitute fair use.
relation: 1. https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/26188/frankfurt-an-der-oder-1548-munster 2. OCLC: 22248296 Historic Cities (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
format: Sheet map removed from an atlas or book
language: Latin
type: city view
identifier: Special Collections (Flat Files) ; G5700 1400-1800 Map 09