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Decorative hand-colored example of Christan Van Adrichom's plan of ancient Jerusalem and its suburbs at the time of Jesus Christ, which was later copied by a number of early mapmakers for their works on the Holy Land.
The plan was originally issued in Theatrum Terrae Sanctae by Christian van Adrichom, in 1584 in Koln. It was subsequently added to all the editions of the Theatrum.
The plan contains sites and scenes of Jerusalem, both within and outside the city, identified by two hundred and seventy captions - each depicting an item mentioned in the Scriptures, and other historical and traditional sources. There is no chronological order to the scenes, as ancient scenes and characters are displayed alongside European buildings and characters of the sixteenth century. The plan itself is surrounded by many illustrations of biblical and historical interest. The map is dedicated to the Archbishop of Cologne.
Van Adrichom's plan was later copied by Jodocus Henricus Kramer in the late 17th Century and also forms the basis for Braun & Hogenberg's 2 sheet vertical plan of Ancient Jerusalem (c 1588) and by Jan Jansson in his 1657 town book.
Adrichom (1533-1585) was a Dutch priest whose scholarly research of the Bible and writings of pilgrims and Josephus made him the acknowledged expert on Holy Land geography. Josephus was a Jewish historian who was employed by the Romans to write about the history of Roman Palestine during the Jewish revolt of 60-70 AD. Many of his works contain accurate geographic details based on his firsthand observations. Adrichom was assigned to Cologne during the time it was a thriving center for cartography and atlas publishing.
Christian Kruik van Adrichem, or Christianus Crucius Adrichomius, was a Dutch Catholic priest, theologian, and biblical geographer whose Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarum Historiarum (Cologne, 1590) became one of the most influential sacred atlases of the early modern period. Ordained in 1566, he served as Director of the Convent of St. Barbara in Delft until the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation forced his expulsion. He spent the remainder of his life in exile, dying in Cologne in 1585.
Van Adrichem's Theatrum—first published posthumously in 1590 by Gerardus Bruyns, canon of Deventer—offers a detailed historical and theological description of the Holy Land, including its biblical geography, a chronology from Adam to the death of John the Apostle (109 AD), and a study of Jerusalem and its sacred sites. The work was part of a broader Catholic effort to reclaim biblical narrative through scholarship and printing in response to Protestant interpretations. It was reprinted multiple times (1593, 1600, 1613, and 1682), translated widely, and became a model for sacred cartography for more than a century.
The Theatrum is particularly valuable for its twelve engraved maps, including a detailed plan of Jerusalem and individual maps of the territories of the Twelve Tribes. These were widely copied, adapted, and reissued by leading Dutch cartographers such as Jodocus Hondius, Johannes Janssonius, Nicolaes Visscher, and Daniel Stoopendaal. Van Adrichem's account is also important as it draws on now-lost sources—including a description of Jerusalem by his brother-in-law, Ysbrand Godfriedsz.—making it a document of lasting relevance to the historical geography of Palestine and Israel.
In addition to the Theatrum, Van Adrichem authored the Vita Jesu Christi (Antwerp, 1578), a devotional life of Christ. His legacy lies in the enduring influence of his biblical geography, which helped shape both confessional cartography and European understanding of the biblical world well into the 18th century.
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