The traditional name of the map is: ''World Picture''. Its origins is in Latin - IMAGO MUNDI, and perhaps more than anything else, it is the complex essence of cartography. It encapsulates both its representational character and its artistic, pictorial aspect.
Although modern scientific mapping is aided by sophisticated measurement methods and has removed many of the decorative elements from the map, it is still subject to the imperative of aesthetic design. Beyond that, scientific mapping can not fail to present reality selectively, by the necessity of using symbols and emphasizing certain data. Accurate maps represent an interpretive and tendentious perspective.
From first glance it can be noticed that art and science have existed side by side throughout the history of map production. The maps linked the world of religious symbols and folklore to the encyclopedic scientific knowledge of geography, geometry, and cosmography. The link between the artistic and the scientific aspects on the map is easy to discover, by the artistic decorations that surrounded every map until recently. Much of the maps area was dedicated to them.
The decorations expressed the connection between cultural style and geographic objectivity, during a certain era. Maps, like works of art, are powerful means of transmitting messages through cultural symbols. Many ancient maps represented a visual summary of their creators' knowledge and worldview. These maps have layers and meanings which are of works of art in every respect.
The golden age of the maps as works of art, and of the anthropomorphic maps in particular, was the Middle Ages in Europe. The Middle Ages are the thousand years between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and the age of discoveries which started in the 15th century. During this long period, people were confined to cities, castles and monasteries. The roads were destroyed, and the intercities traffic was greatly reduced. Science became concentrated in the hands of the Church, which sought to shape a worldview in the spirit of faith. For about 1000 years, the maps became a reflection of the Christian world view, with the distinct characteristics of sacred geometry: Jerusalem was at the center, the world was round, and accurately divided into three continents, populated by saints or monsters.
The collaboration between cartographers and artists became, surprisingly, increasingly intense in the age of discovery, which emphasized the accuracy of mapping. It was the result of introducting of new discoveries, such as new species, as graphic elements, and filling white areas, not mapped yet, with various illustrations, especially of ships and monsters. The ''accurate maps'' included also eye catching illustrations of interesting landscape details, especially of fortified cities. Co-existence was established between geographers, aspiring accuracy and reliability, to cartographers, experienced in styles of art and cultural moods of their era.
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| Combination of map and art on the world map of Patolami, the most popular map until the age of discoveries. |
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| Map of the Holy Land, 16th century, with illustrations of the human landscape. |
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