Florence – Palazzo Vecchio (Hall of Geographical Maps – Poland 1)

This is a photo from the sixteenth century Polish map in the Hall of Geographical Maps.

I was struggling to place this part of the map, until I saw Thorn, which is the old Germanic name for one of my favourite cities which is Torun. Then like a puzzle, things started to fit together, there’s Bromberg to the left of that, which is now the wonderful city of Bydgoszcz. Then to the north of Torun is Graudenz, which is the glorious city of Grudziądz.

The rest is quite hard to place even with modern maps, Rosenburg is Susz, which is somewhere that I haven’t been. I don’t know where Deutschenland is, and I think that’s a place name and not a region, perhaps it’s what is now Iława and was once Deutsch Eylau. Chojnice is the new name for what on the map is for what the Germans call Konitz, or the Pomeranians called Chònice. Which is confusing as there’s a Conitz on the map, just to the north of Bydgoszcz.

Anyway, of limited interest I know, but for anyone who knows the layout of modern-day Poland, it’s an interesting historic map, although the river placements don’t seem entirely accurate.