Charles University reopens unique map collection

Prague, March 21 (CTK) - A unique collection of cartographic documents, hundred years old and the biggest in Central Europe, was reopened to researchers at Prague Charles University's Faculty of Sciences after a two-year reconstruction Thursday, the collection's director Eva Novotna told CTK Thursday.

The collection comprises some 130,000 maps, 2000 atlases and 90 globes of various sizes, materials and provenience, Novotna said.

The items include the Cell inflatable paper globe from 1831, works of significant Czech cartographers and artists such as the 17th century's Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius) and Vaclav (Wenceslaus) Hollar, as well as rare manuscripts of old military maps from the Vienna archive.

There are also maps that belonged to Joachim Barrande, a French paleontologist known for his research of fossils in central Bohemia.

The map collection was established in 1891 along with the Charles University's Geographical Institute.

Also noteworthy is its location in the faculty's original historical rooms arranged in the style of the French National Library.