Learn how medieval mapmakers viewed their world with Maps Curator, Chris Fleet.
Join Chris Fleet, Maps Curator, for a journey through the earliest European maps of the known world, spanning from the 5th to the 15th century. This talk reveals how recent scholarship has transformed our understanding of these extraordinary maps, uncovering the intentions, creators, and historical contexts that shaped them.
Unlike today's maps, these ancient works organised the world according to religious and philosophical ideas, blending myth with reality and connecting the spiritual with the material. Beautifully intricate and strikingly different from modern cartography, these maps served not only as geographical guides but also as tools for navigating life's journey, offering insights into the medieval mind.
This event accompanies our exhibition, 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland' which is on at George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. Two of our earliest world maps are on display as part of this exhibition until March 2025.
