Oculi Mundi is the online home of the Sunderland Collection
The Collection started 40 years ago / Focuses on world maps and atlases both terrestrial and celestial / Runs from 13th to 19th century / Its main purpose is the interest in exploration, discovery, and
the cross-cultural evolution of knowledge.

Drawing a map constitutes an ancient example of one of the most essential needs of the human intellect: to impose an order and a structure on the boundless, seemingly unlimited space of the known world.

The map is an act of imagination; the maps unfolding before our eyes present a creative version of a reality we thought we knew, transformed into something different. Observers are simultaneously both inside and outside the map. While defining their position on the map, rise above it, in a transcending moment of contemplation, beyond space and time, in which everything is seen from an imaginary place.

The library institutions own the the most of the maps’ heritage, dealing with: preservation, digitalization and dissemination. The process of digitalization has allowed to open the doors of the map collections.
The concept of digital cartography is evolving and moving into the complex field of geospatial datas.

What is a Virtual Museum What is a Map Museum What is the Medium
Is it a Museum?