Mappa Mundi

medieval history · maps · geography

Strange shaped worlds. Medieval mapmakers drew the world as a flat circle or oval, not the round ball we know it is today. They often put Jerusalem in the center because they thought it was the most important place on Earth.

Tiny to huge. Some mappa mundis were smaller than your pinky finger, while others were massive wall hangings. The biggest one that still exists, called the Ebstorf map, was wider than your bedroom and measured about 3.5 meters across.

Monsters and myths. Medieval mapmakers filled the edges of their maps with drawings of fantastic creatures and dangerous lands they'd never seen, because they didn't really know what was out there.

Religious not realistic. These maps weren't meant to help people travel or navigate accurately like modern maps do. Instead, they showed what mapmakers believed about God, religion, and the important places in Christian teachings.

Fancy Latin name. The name mappa mundi comes from two Latin words that medieval people used: mappa means map and mundus means world.