Antique map collection from the Geodesy of Iceland

16.09.2022

On the Day of Icelandic Nature, 16 September 2022, the Geodesy of Iceland is handing over its antique map collection to The National and University Library of Iceland. Director of the Geodesy, Gunnar Haukur Kristinsson, signed a letter of donation on this occasion, together with the National Librarian. 

The collection, or 49 maps of 52 in total, was purchased in 1993 from the collector Mark Edwin Cohagen. The collection includes both separate maps of Iceland and maps showing Iceland with other countries. The oldest map dates from 1547 and the youngest from 1865. The collection therefore covers over 300 years of cartographic history of Iceland and includes the main maps of each period. The earliest map (Benedetto Bordone 1547) is the first printed separate map of Iceland and shows the country when people did not know much more than that Iceland was an island in the north. The youngest maps are based on Björn Gunnlaugsson’s map from the mid-19th century, which is the first detailed scientific map of all of Iceland. The archive also includes good copies of the maps of Abraham Ortelius and Gerhard Mercator of Iceland, based on a map by Bishop Gudbrandur Thorláksson. Maps that mark a milestone in knowledge about Iceland, its shape and size.

The National and University Library of Iceland will take digital images of all the maps and put them on the website, islandskort.is. The site was opened in 1997 and now contains images of over 1,000 Icelandic maps.


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