The Fra Mauro World Map

The summit of medieval mapmaking: a Venetian monk's world, drawn with south at the top, that showed Africa could be sailed around half a century before the Portuguese did it.

Made by

Fra Mauro, Camaldolese monk of San Michele di Murano

Date

c. 1450 (shown in Carlo Naya's life-size photograph of 1873)

Held by

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice

Medium

Parchment on wood, circle about 1.96 m across

Related dossiers

• The Library of Alexandria