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Description

Nice example of the first printed plan of Moscow, from a German edition of Sigismund Herberstein's Moscoviter Wunderbare Historien, first published in Basel in 1563.

Herberstein's view of Moscow would influence the depiction of the city for the next 100 years. Most notably, this was the view of Moscow copied by Braun & Hogenberg in their first view of Moscow, published in Civitatus Orbis Terrarum. /gallery/detail/30558

Sigismund Herberstein published the first modern account of Russia in 1549. He made several trips to Moscow, the earliest of which began in 1517. During one of his trips, he asked Ivan Lyatskoi to make an outline map of Moscovy. Bagrow opined that the map was given to Herberstein in 1525, during his second visit. Bagrow notes that the maps published by Herberstein from a woodcut by Aug. Hirsvobel, are very similar to Lyatskoi's own map, which was drawn for Anton Wied in Dantzig in 1542, but not engraved and printed until 1555, although Wied had made it available to Munster as early as 1538 for Munster's edition of Solinus and for Munster's Cosmography of 1544.

Sigismund Herberstein was Emperor Maxmillian I's ambassador to Russia, who made two official trips to Moscow. In all, between 1515 and 1553, Herberstein participated in 69 foreign missions, which traveled throughout much of Europe, including Turkey.

During his travels in Russia, he made extensive observations. Herberstein was able to communicate freely with the Russians because of their knowledge of Slovenian as both Russians belong to the Slavic languages. Herberstein used this knowledge to ask a variety of people in Russia on various topics, which gave him a vision of Russia and the Russians, which surpassed prior visitors. It is likely that he wrote his first report about life in Russia between 1517 and 1527, but the text has not survived to this day. In 1526 he was asked to write a formal report on his experiences in Russia, but it remained relatively unnoticed in the archives until he could find time to revise and expand it. The result was his greatest work, a book written in Latin under the title Commentarii Rerum Moscoviticarum (literally Comments on Muscovite Affairs), published in 1549. This book became the main source of knowledge about Russia in Western Europe.

In The Story of Russia (Morfill, 1890) at page 63, the author notes,

Of the city of Moscow Herberstein tells us that it was principally built of wood, though there were a few stone houses, churches, and monasteries; and most of the streets, which were very broad and spacious, and continued by many bridges over the rivers, were guarded at early nightfall by watchmen, who, after a certain hour, permitted none to pass. There were several mills on the Yausa for the use of the city, and at one end a row of numerous refiners and blacksmiths' shops and furnaces; for the mechanics and other artizans had separate quarters for their trades, and every quarter of Moscow Was provided with its own church. The houses were generally large and lofty, and had spacious gardens round them.
Condition Description
Minor fold split at top of image.