Bernard Wapowski facts for kids
Bernard Wapowski (born around 1475, died 1535) was a very important Polish mapmaker. He is known for creating the first detailed map of Poland in 1526. Because of his amazing work, people call him the "Father of Polish Cartography." He also worked as a secretary for King Sigismund the Old. Bernard Wapowski helped create many maps of Eastern Europe, including Poland, Scandinavia, and other regions. He even got some help from the famous scientist Nicolaus Copernicus.
The Life of a Mapmaker
Bernard Wapowski was born near a town called Przemyśl in a village named Wapowce. This village is where his family name came from!
He probably made his first map of Poland in Rome around 1505 or 1506. When he arrived in Rome in 1505, he joined a Polish group and met Pope Julius II. He stayed in Rome for several years. There, he worked on maps of the Jagiellonian States, which were lands ruled by Polish kings. He used an older map from 1491 to help him.
In 1526, Wapowski was working for the King of Poland. This is when Nicolaus Copernicus helped him map the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Wapowski and Copernicus were lifelong friends. They both studied at the University of Kraków and were taught by Albert Brudzewski.
In the 1400s, modern mapmaking began to grow after people rediscovered an ancient book called Geography by Ptolemy. Bernard Wapowski drew maps of Polish and Rutherian lands for new versions of Geography in 1507 and 1508. He also helped his friend Marco Beneventano update a map of Germany for a 1507 edition of Geography.
Wapowski's most famous map was made and published in Kraków in 1526. It was the first large-scale map of Poland. Many of his maps, including the famous 1526 map, were printed by Florian Ungler.
Nicolaus Copernicus learned mapmaking skills to help with Wapowski's maps in 1507. Copernicus even drew a map of Prussia in 1510. Wapowski also helped Copernicus with his work. In 1535, Wapowski published an Almanach (a type of yearly calendar with information) that included Copernicus's notes about the planets. These notes were from Copernicus's famous book, De Revolutionibus.
Bernard Wapowski also wrote history. He continued the History of Poland written by Jan Długosz. Wapowski and his maps influenced other mapmakers. His 1526 maps of Poland might have been used by famous mapmakers like Gerard Mercator and Sebastian Muenster when they drew maps of Europe. Other mapmakers like Waclaw Grodecki and Andreas Pograbka were also influenced by Wapowski.
In 1535, Bernard Wapowski wrote a letter asking someone in Vienna to publish an almanac. He said Copernicus wrote it. This is the only time we hear about a Copernicus almanac. It likely contained Copernicus's ideas about how the planets move. Sadly, Wapowski died a few weeks later, so his request was not fulfilled.
Lost Maps and New Discoveries
Today, none of Bernard Wapowski's original maps are complete. Most of them were probably burned in the Great Fire of 1528 in Kraków, which was the capital of Poland at the time. Only small pieces of his maps have been found.
In 1932, fragments of Wapowski's 1528 map were accidentally found by Casimir Piekarski. They were hidden inside the covers of an old book. In 1935, Dr. Charles Buczek worked to put these map fragments back together. These pieces were kept safe in the Warsaw Central Archives. However, sadly, these fragments were later lost during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
See also
- List of Poles
