A survey of the oldest town maps and views of Vienna (15th–16th centuries) gives the basis for an integration of these early developments into a broader, international context. It is especially the much older Italian framework of maps and views as well as the start of the revival of Ptolemy’s perception of the world in Italy that form the background and the models of cartographical knowledge north of the Alps. With regard to town-views we also see early forerunners in Italy, but it is also the integration of contemporary land- and cityscapes into the display of biblical scenes together with a specific Dutch artistic influence that lay the ground for the oldest views of the city as a whole or as parts of it. The combination with early travelogues and the tradition of “Städtebücher” starting in the late 15th century gave way to a new humanistic and intellectual interest in towns and their actual appearance. In the 16th century, it was not at least bound to the political evolution that especially for Vienna’s maps and views the Ottoman threat to the Habsburg capital did add new aspects for representations of the city as well its cartography.
Ferdinand Opll (Univ.-Prof. Dr., born 1950) studied History, German Philology, and History of Arts at the University of Vienna and in 1971–1974, completed the education at the Austrian Institute for Historical Research (Dr. phil. in 1974). After starting a project on the period of Frederick Barbarossa (Regesta Imperii), he worked as an archivist at the Vienna City Archives from 1977 until 2010 (in the period of 1989–2010 as Director of the Archives). In 1985, he received his Habilitation for Medieval History and Historical Auxiliary Sciences (Institute for History, University of Vienna). A list of his selected publications in the fields of Medieval History, Comparative Urban History, History of Vienna, Cartographical and Cultural History can be found here.
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