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Antique maps > europe > eastern europe > Antique map - View of Kalwarya Zebrzydowska (southeast of Krakow) by Braun and Hogenberg

Mons Calvariae - Braun & Hogenberg, 1618.



Antique map - View of Kalwarya Zebrzydowska (southeast of Krakow) by Braun and Hogenberg.

CARTOUCHE LEFT: Pope Paul V found this place worthy of his blessing and rich favours.

CARTOUCHE RIGHT: The right hand of the Lort hath wrought strenght - We have found it in the fields of the wood (Psalm 131). Nicolaus Zebrzidovics, Count and General in Cracow, built it in the year 1600.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso)): "How much more praiseworth are they who have a deep desire to see the places where our Lord and saviour died for our salvation. But since not everyone is able to visit those places personally and see them with their own eyes, that noble hero Mr Mikolaj Zebrzydowski of Zebrzidovicz discovered a place about four miles away from Cracow and found that it matched in almost every way the Hill of Calvary in the Holy Land and other nearby places. He then had it divided and drawn up so that the most important stations of the bitter Passion and death of Christ, as well as other stories mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, could be imagined at the corresponding places [...], just as if one were in Jerusalem."

This panoramic view from the north shows pilgrims on their way to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a famous place of pilgrimage southwest of Cracow. In the years 1600-1604 Mikolaj Zebrzydowski, the Voivode of Cracow, inspired by the descriptions of Jerusalem by Christian Adrian Cruys, ordered the reconstruction and renaming of the region around Mount Zarek, modelled as accurately as possible on the actual topography of Jerusalem, even in respect of correct distances. Hills were renamed as the Mount of Olives and Golgotha and the nearby river rechristened as the Kidron, which flowed through a valley of the same name. The stations visited by pilgrims when following the Passion of Christ were copies of holy places in Jerusalem, with names such as Our Lady's House, Last Supper Room, Caiaphas's House, Herod's Palace or Christ's Sepulchre. Today famous passion plays are performed here during Holy Week, attracting hundreds of thousands spectators.

Date of the first edition: 1617
Date of this map: 1618

Copper engraving
Size: 33 x 45.5cm (12.9 x 17.7 inches)
Verso text: Latin
Condition: Excellent, nice old colour.
Condition Rating: A+
References: Van der Krogt 4, 2015, Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.481.

From: Theatri praecipuarum Totius Mundi Urbium Liber Sextus Anno MDCXVIII. (Van der Krogt 4, 41:1.6)

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Item number: 23447
Price: 1100 Euro

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