carta marina 1539/1572

CARTA MARINA 1539/1572

Antonio Lafreri's copy of Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus is the most renowned copper engraving based on the original nine-leaf wood engraving. The map on the right is a facsimile copy from 1967. French cartographer Antonio Lafreri (1512-1577), whose name in French is written Antoine Lafrery, engraved downsized versions of a number of maps, including Carta Marina in 1572. This map was published in Italy.

Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) was a catholic priest. He was sent to the northern parts of the kingdom on church business in 1519, exploring the Tornio River Valley to reach Pello. Receiving great inspiration from his trip, he published the diligently translated and long-standing influential classic Historia de gentibus septentrionalis (1555; History of Northern Peoples.)

Olaus Magnus published Carta Marina in 1539 as his preliminary historical work, the first map that came close to depicting the true geography of the Nordic countries. The inland areas of the nations were still rather arbitrarily drawn, yet the shorelines were drawn more realistically.

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This site was implemented as part of the Digmore, Digital Cultural Heritage Project in 2005-2006. The aim of the project was to make the cultural heritage of Lapland more easily available for various actors, experts, researchers, educational institutions and the general public.

A total of fifteen individual map documents and a facsimile of Olof Tresk’s atlas Kemi och Torne lappmarker 1642-1643 have been digitised for these pages.
The maps:
Public Domain
The site is updated 2021.

Culture Pictures of Lapland -www-site

Rovaniemi City Library, Lapland-Department.
Jorma Eton tie 6, 96100 Rovaniemi
+358 50 315 1487,
kirjasto.lappi-osasto at rovaniemi.fi

  • MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SITE>>

    “In the 1960s the grants were rather generous, as it was also the intention of the town administration to express Rovaniemi as being suitable for housing the Regional Library. A regional collection was one of the criteria for the selection. This was of great interest to me, as I used this collection for my work as an author and writer. Maps represented part of the antiquary acquisitions.

    I was actively involved with a number of sources including, for instance, antiquarian booksellers in Helsinki who I visited and I was presented with some lists of the collections. I also travelled to Stockholm to purchase books and maps from the local antiquarian booksellers. In practice, a number of these purchases were handled by the publishing house Lehtikirjakauppa, but occasionally I would purchase some myself and claim the money back from the town administration. As there were, and still are, a number of forgeries around, I learnt to sort the rubbish from the genuine articles, and I'm rather confident that no fake maps were acquired. I also extended my search for acquisitions to the fair in Frankfurt and visits to the local antiquarian booksellers. I collated lists from a number of countries.

    I recall Lennart Meri being both intrigued and in great admiration of the maps. It was my understanding that he too was a collector. When the maps were hung along the office corridors and on the walls of the outdoor foyer, Lennart was shocked: Anyone at any time could steel these rare and valuable items. I told him that stealing is illegal in Finland, and stealing from a public collection is an especially harshly punishable offence. Some of the maps I have purchased for my personal collection. The wall of my study has a map of Archangel printed in 1758 in Venice.

    It was not only an interesting time, but also a very educational one. Governer Lassinantti followed my acquisitions with great interest and gave me some excellent tips. Back then, there was also a bit of competition, as for instance the Kemijoki hydropower company managed to reserve rare books and maps before I had time to go through all the antique book lists. I have to admit that Lapland themed works still catch my eye, and I wonder why no one has bought them yet..."

    (Jorma Etto, the Chief Librarian at the Regional Library of Lapland 1961-1984. A letter in March 2006).



    SOURCES:

    Annanpalo, Heikki. Bringing the North Calotte to the knowledge of Europeans, Rovaniemi (2007). [pdf-document].

    Bure, Andre. Pohjoismaiden kuvaus v. 1626. Suomennos, johdanto, selitykset Tuomo Pekkanen. SKS 1985. (Suomalaisen kirjallisuuden seuran toimituksia 427).

    Lainema & Nurminen. Ultima Thule. Pohjoiset löytöretket. Helsinki 2001. - Ultima Thule. Arktiska upptäcktsfärder. Helsingfors 2001. - Ultima Thule. Arctic explorations. Helsinki 2001.

    The A.E. Nordenskiöld collection in the Helsinki University Library. Annotated catalogue of maps made up to 1800. Volumes I-V. Helsinki University Library 1979-1995.

    Pietilä, Anna-Maija. Kansalliskokoelman mikrokuvatut kartat ennen vuotta 1810. Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto 1984.

    Pohjoiskalotin historiallisia vaiheita. Kartta- ja kuvanäyttely 1500-1800 –luvuilla / Nordkalott i historisk perspektiv. En utställning av kartor och vyer från 1500- till 1800-talet. Finnair 1984.



    IMPLEMENTATION:

    Texts, information on maps and cartography and translations of texts related to the Tresk maps:
    Jukka Peltonen, Rovaniemi City Library,
    Irene Piippola, Rovaniemi City Library.

    Web design and realisation by K. Simonlehto, 2021.
    Translation into English: Peter Culley.