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Antique engraved view of Parma, in northern Italy, published by Matthaus Merian. Home of the famous ham, the map shows the city in detail with numerous buildings accurately depicted.
The city is here shown divided by the river which bears the city's name, as well as tributary branches. The town is surrounded by a moat. 75 places of interest are named.
Visible on the map are the city's Domo and its many churches and palaces. At the time of this map's publication, the city was capital of its own Duchy, at the period of its greatest strength. It would fall under Bourbon control through marriage in the 18th-century.
Mathaus Merian (1593-1650) was the father of engraver Matthäus the Younger, and of the painter, engraver, and naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian. He was born in Basel, Switzerland and trained in engraving in Zurich. After a time in Nancy, Paris and Strasbourg, he settled in Frankfurt. While there, he worked for Johann Theodor de Bry, the publisher and son of the travel writer. In 1617, he married Maria Magdalena de Bry, Johann Theodor’s daughter. In 1623, Merian took over the de Bry publishing house upon the death of his father-in-law. Merian’s best known works are detailed town views which, due to their accuracy and artistry, form a valuable record of European urban life in the first half of the sixteenth century
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