Mercateum

The Mercateum is the largest based on historical cartography globe of the world.

The Mercateum is an official monument to the trade relations between Swabia and Franconia on the one hand and India on the other side. The name Mercateum one hand stands for the issue of trade (from Latin = Mercator dealer, merchant), on the other hand for the important cartographer Gerhard Mercator.

After an initial presentation at the 2005 Marstallplatz in Munich for the anniversary of 500 years of trade relations with India ( 1505-2005 ), the Mercateum Koenigsbrunn in the district of Augsburg its final location in the center of town on a specially created space between the royal baths and the school found. It was officially opened on 30 May 2008 to the public.

The globe

The globe carries a world map that the Spanish cosmography Diego Ribero has completed in February / March 1529. She served Emperor Charles V for the solution of the Moluccas question ( whether the then known as the Spice Islands Indonesian archipelago was attributable to the Spanish or Portuguese part of the world ). She was the first full World Trade card and is entitled Propoganda. According to their own description it contains " everything that has been discovered by the world today ." The last - made ​​by the Spanish discoveries in the Pacific - are indicated herein by the year 1525. The number of landmarks designated by name in the map is estimated to be approximately 3000.

The drawn on parchment Portolankarte, the 204.5 cm x 85 cm measured in the original and is now located in the Vatican archives, was projection faithfully into a ball shape converted and thereby magnified by 260 times - a process that only a few historical maps is possible and has been done for the first time in this size. When converting a flat, two-dimensional map into a spherical shape basically the map projection of the cartographer has to be undone and the card " equalized " in this way.

The 10 meter high structure is a novel form of the membrane construction. The basic structure is a built on a steel skeleton node truss construction made of wood with a composite anchor technology that carries the 452 -square-foot roof. This consists of a two-layered membrane having air -supported space, which results in a perfect spherical shape of the outside, without the need of an airlock to the commission of the ball.

The globe stands on a platform surrounded by a pool of water, and can be accessed through two doors. Inside stairs connecting five planes in which the exhibits of the museum are presented. Outdoor signs explain the different hemispheres and peculiarities of Riberos card.

The Museum

Inside the Mercateums is the main exhibition " From India and the End of the World ", which documented the beginnings and heyday of long distance trade on the "Road to Italy " in the 16th century by Viborg (Denmark) via Erfurt, Nuremberg, Augsburg and Landsberg led to the Brenner Pass. From there, the rush was to Venice, an offshoot led Verona and Milan to Genoa and the pilgrimage route to Rome. Between Augsburg and Landsberg which emerged from the Via Claudia Augusta " road to Italy " was the hallway of the present town of King Brunn centuries the busiest thoroughfare in central Europe. The Augsburg Fugger and Welser trading dynasties played a central role in this historic long-distance trade.

Other exhibits in the museum show the historical cartography: a copy of the Tabula Peutingeriana, the first road map of Europe Erhard Etzlaub in the year 1501, and a replica of Martin Behaim Erdapfel, the oldest surviving terrestrial globe from 1490 to 1493.

Section of the Tabula Peutingeriana

Europe map of Erhard Etzlaub ( south oriented)

Initiator

Initiator of the Mercateums is the king Brunner cultural scientist Wolfgang boy who has the historical trade routes of the Augsburg and Nuremberg trading houses traced to land and water to five land and three ship expeditions with his research vessel Mercator.

The construction of the Mercateums was funded by the Bavarian State Chancellery and the city of King Brunn.

Mercateumspreis

The launched in 2008 Mercateumspreis is awarded to individuals who have dedicated themselves in a special way the practice-oriented research in the footsteps of historical intercontinental trade, the study of sea or land remote connections. Previous winners are:

• 2008: Dominik Görlitz, experimental archaeologist
• 2009: Dieter Noli, working in the diamond area of the Namib archaeologist
• 2012: Burghard Pieske, adventurers and explorers,