Jan Kryštof Müller – Baroque Cartographer

The cartographic depiction of landscapes based on Jan Kryštof Müller's maps, with a relief expressed by richly detailed hills, meandering watercourses and beautiful accompanying illustrations, has become deeply rooted in the society’s awareness and has come to symbolise (Central) European Baroque cartography, whose works adorned the collections and libraries of prominent royal and noble families as well as the clergy.

Jan Kryštof Müller (1673–1721) is regarded primarily as the creator of detailed printed, representative maps of Bohemia and Moravia and their manuscript drafts. The most famous is a large printed map of Bohemia from 1720, decorated with rich illustrations (parergons) based on designs by Václav Vavřinec Reiner. However, the personality of Jan Kryštof Müller, set in Europe of the Baroque period, was shaped within a broader social, economic and scientific environment in a much more colourful way, and his significance must be understood in the context of the entire Central Europe at least. Müller's work has made a lasting contribution to the history of science, surveying, geography, and cartography. His work forms an important part of Europe's cultural heritage, a testament to contemporary mapmaking with its rich pictorial decoration, and has become a symbol of the “old Baroque map”, which combines the pursuit of a mathematically accurate depiction of space, a developed aesthetic sense and the craftsmanship of our ancestors.