A Travellerspoint blog

The mysterious missing part of the Ebstorf World Map

Welcome to the Ebstorf World Map

large_90_20140617_142434.jpg

at the Plassenburg (source: wikipedia)

300px-Kulm..urg_Ansicht.jpg

in Kulmbach, Franconia, Germany

Kulmbach.jpg

It is a typical medieval mappa mundi in O-T Orbis Terrarum form, meaning its "ORIENTation" is "easted" instead of north, with Jerusalem in the center and Christ at the top, his hands on either side and his feet at the bottom. It was probably painted on pergament in the 13th century, and it was apparently re-found in the north-german Ebstorf monastery in 1843, then destroyed in WW2, with 4 copies of the original remaining.

large_640px-Ebstorfer-stich2.jpg

(source: wikipedia, click here for hi-res version)

An important part of the map had been "lost", officially due to fire damage, however it is much more likely that someone took control of geography and erased a part of "non-official" history. Here is the missing area:

large_90_20140617_142517.jpg

large_90_20140617_142524.jpg

As a world traveller and scholar of non-official history, I am particularly drawn to this gigantic piece of art. One can watch the little details for hours, including the bloodsucking cannibals behind the Caspian Sea (Gog and Magog) , all sorts of snakes, biblical monsters, a unicorn, or the burning Phoenix. The initiated will understand a lot of the meanings ... but who and what had been depicted on the mysterious missing part?

(more explanations here in German)

-

Posted by LuxuryRogue 05:26 Archived in Germany

Email this entryFacebookStumbleUpon

Table of contents