Hereford Mappa Mundi
Mapamundi de Hereford
- Date
- c. 1300 · confidence medium
- Place
- Hereford, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Richard of Holdingham (or Lafford) and cathedral workshops
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What it is
A parchment world map 1.6 by 1.3 metres with Jerusalem at the centre, Paradise at the east and over five hundred drawings of cities, peoples and creatures. It is the largest surviving medieval world map.
Authorship is attributed to a Richard of Holdingham or Lafford from an inscription; the date of c. 1300 is approximate.
What it led to
- a visual synthesis of the geographical, historical and religious knowledge of the age
- a reference point for the study of the medieval imagined world