Cosmographia Universalis

Hermes Histoires de Carres > Autumn - Winter 2019

Sebastian Munster was a cartographer, historian, astronomer, mathematician and scholar of Hebrew. His work, Cosmographia Universalis, first published in Germany in 1544 and became one of the most widely read books of the 16th century. When Jan Bajtlik discovered an original edition of the book in a library in Poland, he was fascinated by its vision of a world made up of myths and legends. His scarf depicts an imaginary landscape that combines architecture with fauna and flora. Taking the seahorses, sea monsters and pyramids of the Cosmographia as his models, he creates a dreamlike world teeming with extraordinary beasts.