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Organized and hosted by the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (CMEMS).

In late July 1585, the Milanese noble Urbano Monte (1544-1613) decided to make an ambitious world map. The first Japanese embassy to Europe had just visited his city. Monte witnessed the spectacle surrounding the four young Japanese Christians and their Portuguese Jesuit confessor, returning to Lisbon after visiting Rome in preparation for their voyage home. The Japanese traveled with a gift of Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarum (1572), presumably to show the Japanese what Europe looked like in this famous Renaissance atlas. Monte was eager to create a map of Japan to satisfy European curiosity about this part of Asia. How could he bridge the vast distance separating Italy and Japan? His answer was to create a paper planisphere composed of sixty maps.

This exhibition reconstructs the world of a virtually unknown Renaissance mapmaker.  Monte was inspired by the great geographers and cartographers of the day such as Mercator and Ortelius without choosing to imitate how they made their famous maps. He was curious about long-distance travel and eagerly read travel narratives, yet never got on a ship to go far from home. An avid consumer of global knowledge, Monte wanted to share what he learned. Take a close look at Urbano Monte’s mappamundi, and the books, artifacts, and experiences that inspired his intellectual voyage.  See how this armchair traveler envisioned his world.

This exhibition is ongoing and will be available until September 27th, 2024. To view the exhibit, visit the David Rumsey Map Center during its public drop-in hours.

The CMEMS Workshop series meets most Wednesdays during the academic year. See the CMEMS website for the list of .