The City Map of Cologne by the cartographer Arnold Mercator (1537–1587), of which only two copies have survived in their entirety, consists of 16 assembled copper engravings. With the dimensions 110 × 173 cm, the so-called Mercator plan has a level of detail that was unprecedented for the time. It is the first plan of the city of Cologne that was based on precise measurements.
Through the consistent use of a bird’s eye view, which reproduces the proportions of the buildings almost correctly (isometry), Cologne’s tightly woven street network was recorded and depicted in detail, along with all the buildings that shaped the early modern cityscape. Particular interest was paid to the ancient remains. For example, the Roman wall was marked with five-point stars, while the two frame strips on the side documented the Antiquitates Coloniensis – material discoveries and buildings from ancient Cologne (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium).
Further Reading
- Bartsch, Tatjana: COLONIA AGRIPPINA EXACTISSIME DESCRIPTA. Arnold Mercators großer Plan der Stadt Köln von 1571, in: Laura Di Carla / Johannes Lipps / Anna Pawlak / Daniel R. F. Richter (Ed.): Andere Ästhetik meets Andere Ästhetik. Visualisierungen von Antiken nördlich der Alpen in der frühneuzeitlichen Druckgraphik, Tübingen 2023.
- Boschung, Dietrich / Steidle, Stefanie: Der Kölnplan des Arnold Mercator und seine Kontextualisierung in der Datenbank Arachne, in: Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica, Vol. 1 (2011) pp. 179–181.
- Schäfer, Alfred: Topographische Studien zum römischen Köln um 1600, in: Dietrich Boschung / Alfred Schäfer (Ed.): Monumenta Illustrata. Raumwissen und antiquarische Gelehrsamkeit, Paderborn 2019 (Morphomata 41), pp. 286 f.
