bavarikon4UThe estate of Philipp Apian (1531-1589) - Apianiana
Philipp Apian was born in Ingolstadt in 1531 and taught mathematics at the university there. After his conversion to Protestantism he had to leave Bavaria in 1569 and became professor of astronomy and geometry in Tübingen, where he died in 1589. With his topographical survey of Bavaria, he achieved such a thorough, sophisticated compilation in terms of surveying and artistic standards that it was only excelled by cartographers in the 18th century.
Apian's estate at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library) consists of two small boxes. It contains drawn views of castles, palaces, monasteries and places as well as landscapes from the former Duchy of Bavaria, which were created as part of the work on the "Bayerische Landtafeln" (Bavarian land maps). These are drawings by Apian and woodcuts by Jost Amman (1539–1591) (Cgm 5379(3).
Apian kept a notebook on distance measurements on his land surveying travels (Apianana VI). Between 1554 and 1563 he created a monumental map of Bavaria on a scale of 1:45,000 by order of Duke Albrecht V (reigned 1550-1759). During the course of creating this great map, Apian produced preliminary drawings (Cod.icon. 142(1-7), so that the scope and planning of the undertaking becomes clear. These preliminary drawings are particularly important because the great map was destroyed in a fire in 1782.
The estate also includes the terrestrial globe (Cod.icon. 129) that Apian made for Albrecht V., a collection of coats of arms (Cgm 2287) and other preparatory work, manuscripts and preliminary drawings for the "Bayerische Landtafeln".
>> This estate belongs to the collection of estates from the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).