Portal:Denmark/Selected picture/2011/27

Carta Marina.

The Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) is the earliest detailed map of the Nordic countries. It took twelve years to finish. The first copies were printed in 1539 in Venice. Its existence had long been considered apocryphal, until a copy was discovered in Munich in 1886. Another copy, found in Switzerland in 1962, now resides at Carolina Rediviva, Uppsala, Sweden.

Image credit: Olaus Magnus (1490-1557).