Mediterranean Cartographic Stories: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-century Masterpieces from the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation Collection

Description

Edited by Panagiotis N. Doukellis

This elegant publication (Athens 2019) features select papers presented at the 3rd International Conference of the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation, entitled ‘Knowledge is Power’ (Cartography Sessions), held in collaboration with the University of Cyprus (Nicosia, November 2016). The essays annotate three – until now unpublished – distinct manuscripts dating to the 17th and 18th centuries from the Foundation’s Collection: an atlas from the famous cartographic workshop of Giovanni Battista Cavallini (Livorno 1635); a large-scale map of the Mediterranean by an anonymous Ottoman cartographer (17th or 18th century); and an extremely interesting experiential mapping of 18th-century Cyprus. These documents invite us to revisit particular issues of historical cartography, of cartographic contacts and knowledge exchange in Constantinople and Tuscany, of artistic and aesthetic qualification of geographical space where there was real and/or imagined domination by specific state entities (Tuscany, Ottoman Empire), and of people who feel the need to map their travel experiences.