International Conference on the History of Map Collecting Vienna, Central Europe and Beyond

The one-day event will be held on 12 June 2025, at University of Vienna. The conference will be organised jointly by the Vienna Center for the History of Collecting (University of Vienna, Austria) and Moravian Library in Brno (Czech Republic) and will be accompanied by a poster exhibition on Bernard Paul Moll composite atlas preserved at Moravian Library which originated in Vienna in the 18th century.

Vienna was – thanks to personalities of international fame such as the archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Eugene of Savoy, Albert von Sachsen-Teschen, and many others educated courtiers – one of the most important centres of collecting of the Western civilisation in the Early Modern period.
The aim of the international conference is to go beyond this statement interconnected in general public’ s eyes mostly with paintings, drawings, and sculptures, in two ways. Firstly, to enlarge the group of collected objects to printed sheets with a special focus on maps; secondly, there are important pieces of collectors’ interests of this kind kept in Vienna until nowadays (world-famous Blaeu-van der Hem Atlas preserved in the Austrian National Library), worth displaying and discussing. 
Based on a long-lasting scholarly discussion on pre-modern maps between objects of art and products of science, we welcome case studies to illustrate the practices on map collecting incl. creation of composite atlases in Central-European territory in the Early Modern and Modern period, from the 17th to 20th century.

Paper’s title, abstract of 5-8 sentences, and short CV in English are welcome by 17 March 2025. The acceptance notification is scheduled on 31 March 2025. There will be 20 minutes space for presentations. The conference language will be English. Travel costs will be reimbursed up to 200 Euro. Supported by "Stadt Wien Kultur/City of Vienna Culture".
Should you have further questions, please contact the organisers Eva Chodějovská (chodejovskamzk.cz) and Silvia Tammaro (silvia.tammarounivie.ac.at).