Maps from the collection “Magnificent Atlases” with title cartouches

A selection of about 1930 maps from the collection "Magnificent Atlases: From the Beginnings to the Golden Age” were compiled for the data set. The maps from lavishly illustrated atlases of the Zentralbibliothek Zürich are freely accessible on e-rara, online platform for digitized rare books from Swiss institutions. They all date from the heyday of representative atlas production in the 17th century. At that time, publishers - especially in the Netherlands - tried to outdo one another with lavishly illustrated products. The originally monochrome illustrations and maps were sometimes elaborately coloured by hand. The books as mentioned were not only used for geographical orientation, they were expensive, representative luxury objects, too. The maps they contain are often richly decorated with human and animal figures as well as other decorative elements. The maps thus offer insights into ideas, power relations and conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is a staging of world, power, people and resources at the time of European expansion, starting with the end of the 15th century. The 17th century atlases, together with older ones, were indexed down to map level in 2021-22 and made available to the public online free of charge. In 2023, volunteers georeferenced over 2900 maps online in a Citizen Science project of ZB Zürich.