Topic > Landscape Urbanism: Analysis of Mappae Mundi

Mappae mundi, an imaginative form of world map created in the Middle Ages, attempted to form a visual encyclopedia of world knowledge based on varied and sometimes conflicting sources. Cartographers used information from the Bible, Greek and Roman historians and geographers, and myth to create these hybrid objects, which used text and images to convey knowledge. However, in most cases, this process of hybridization does not guarantee complete harmony between the disparate elements but produces a fertile document for the exploration of culture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The term mappamundi comes from the Latin mappa (tablecloth or napkin) and mundus (world). Since their geometric construction was not at all consistent, the mappaemundi can be distinguished from the planisphere, which usually refers to a map of the world consciously constructed according to the principles of transformation from a spherical to a flat surface and whose primary purpose, unlike this condition, it is locational. The key point during the creation of these medieval maps was not the actual reconstruction, in the drawing, of the territorial conditions but rather the representation of a different vision of the world; A deeper visualization of the Earth, one that includes the Divine. The role of the Divine in this type of cartography is encrypted through the form of God, which surrounds the Earth. The Ebstorf map combines the "forbidden garden at the top of the world" with "monsters at the ends of the earth" - twenty-four figures along the southern edge of the map. But the map is also embraced by Jesus: «the head, hands and feet of Jesus peep out from behind the round image of the world. It is as if Jesus stood behind the earth, holding it firmly in his hands" "He also holds monstrous creatures; his left hand appears within the frame depicting a Troglogyte" '"He holds the earth in his hands". The primary purpose of these mappae mundi was to attract forms of Faith from the spectators, informing them about significant events in Christian history, rather than recording their precise locations, rarely had a defined scale, being very schematic in character and geometry. All the historical-spatial elements of the early centuries, imbued with the information of Genesis, formed the result of this scheme. of cartographic painting The orientation is shifted eastward, placing Jerusalem and the Crucifixion at the center of the circle, a strategy inspired by the Roman practice of centering maps on Rome. Criticizing this choice of symbolic representation, Daniel Birkholz argues that it is medieval cartographers have often perceived the mappaemundi as a religious tool for transmitting and consolidating Christian beliefs, suggesting that research that explores the political importance of maps and the mirroring aspect of their creation and use is more beneficial. However, this same essence of representation of the Divine, creates similarity of this form of mapping with the representation of the Cosmos, as in cosmographic diagrams; The Jains, for example, were interested not only in mapping the territory, but also the material and immaterial forces that shape the Cosmos. Through this representation, another layer of anagnosis of cartography was revealed; That of hidden forces, which exercise a form of power towards spectators. Daniel Birkholtz, The King's Two Maps: Cartography and Culture in the Thirteenth Century England, 2004 Discussing occasional subjectivity and the power that cartography potentially holds, the potential for cartographers' dominance, towards a specific motif of”.