The Naval Museum is studying replacing the first world map in history with a replica to ensure its conservation

Crisis cabinet of the technicians of the Naval Museum of Madrid in front of the most valuable map preserved in Spain.

The so-called Carta de Juan de la Cosa (1500), the first world map in history where America is represented, needs special care to avoid the degradation caused by centuries of transfers and poor exhibitions.

The museum is considering replacing it with a 3D copy made by the Spanish company Factum Foundation.

The elements drawn in red on this parchment, an irregular rectangle measuring 93 centimeters high by 183 centimeters wide, have lost intensity due to its poor conservation for centuries - it was stolen by Napoleonic troops during the War of Independence - and its direct exposure to light in the shop of a French merchant in the 19th century.

However, the green and blue tones are well preserved.

Since 2020 it has been in a bioclimatic display case that maintains constant temperature and humidity, in addition to having a filter that prevents UVA and infrared rays.

The transfer to another location on the map - which was declared secret by the Catholic Monarchs, since it was the key that opened knowledge of the Atlantic to other nations - is very problematic due to the vibrations or temperature changes that it could suffer, so the Technicians are still studying how to do it.

“It is difficult to move it.

In fact, it has not even been lent to other museums for many years, despite the numerous requests we have.

It is, without a doubt, the most sought-after piece,” says Juan Escrigas, ship captain and director of the museum.

More information

The mysterious theft and falsification of the first map of the Caribbean

It was painted in Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) by Juan de la Cosa, a pilot and cartographer who traveled with Columbus on at least two voyages, at the request of Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca.

The prelate wanted to show the Catholic Monarchs the new geographical discoveries made between 1492 and 1500. The chart correctly represents the Earth's equator and the Tropic of Cancer, although it contains errors in distances and latitudes, especially in the New World and the Antilles.

The nautical chart, which is signed by its author, is composed of two joined parchments and on it are captured all the territories of the globe known at the end of the 15th century.

It includes male figures of various monarchs of the world, three images on horseback - the Three Wise Men -, prominent monuments from different countries, boats of the time and faces of snitches that represent the winds, as described on the Virtual Defense Library website.

For Defensa, “its merit and importance lies in being the oldest surviving cartographic work in which the American continent appears;

It shows the discoveries made by Columbus on his three voyages of 1492, 1493 and 1498, as well as those of Ojeda, Vespucio, Juan de la Cosa himself, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón and Juan Caboto.

Bishop Fonseca, who had been collecting cartographic information for years, showed it to the Catholic Monarchs in 1503. But after 1514 his trace was lost, which was not recovered until 1832 in France.

That year, the Dutch ambassador, Baron Charles de Walckenaer, bought it from a Parisian dealer and showed it to the Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt, who was amazed and made it known.

When Walckenaer died, his assets were put up for auction and the Spanish Navy Ministry acquired him.

The Government had described it as “the most interesting geographical sketch that the Middle Ages has bequeathed to us.”

The Spanish offer surpassed those of the National Library of France and the British Museum.

4,321 francs were paid.

The map was transferred to the disappeared Godoy Palace, near the Royal Palace of Madrid, and later to the Naval Museum, where it is currently located.

In November 1936, when the Civil War began, he was taken to Valencia to protect him, where he remained until the war ended.

Since then, says Luisa Martín-Meras, in her study

Juan de la Cosa's letter: interpretation and history,

“it has left its location on very rare occasions, once in 1952 to the exhibition organized by the Royal Geographical Society in Madrid. , in 1958 to the exhibition of the IV centenary of the death of Charles V in Madrid and in the 70s to New York.

It has never been restored.

In 1987, the Prado Museum subjected it to analysis using x-rays, infrared rays and ultraviolet fluorescence.

The result showed that the pigments used were in accordance with the production date that appears on the letter and that no subsequent repainting was evident.

Berta Gasca, technical director of the museum, admits that replacing the original map with the facsimile would allow it to be illuminated directly and allow visitors to admire all its lines.

“There are many people who complain that they can't see well because no light illuminates it,” she points out.

It is kept in an urn with fixed humidity and temperature constants thanks to a substance called Propadyn, covered by glass that filters ultraviolet rays and was manufactured impact-proof.

The previous urn, manufactured in 1992, was replaced by another in 2020 to integrate the latest conservation technologies.

Currently, the facsimile that will replace the map, not before 2025 or 2026, is in an exhibition in London.

José María Moreno, head of the Cartographic Collection of the Naval Museum, remembers that it is common to replace some pieces "so that they rest."

“In the case of books, for example, we even change the pages that are shown to the public so that they are not always exposed to light.

We work for the complete maintenance of our heritage,” he emphasizes, while the museum director concludes: “Juan de la Cosa's Map is our pretty girl.

Our jewel, and that is why we take care of it with the utmost care for future generations.”

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