The History of a Few Maps from the National Museum of Agriculture (Slobozia, Romania)

The current paper aims at presenting the latest information on the history and circulation of seven maps signed by Ioannes Sambucus Pannonius, Willem Janszoon Blaeu and Jan Jansson et al, enlisted in 2021 in the heritage collection of The National Museum of Agriculture, Romania. The set contains: two physical and administrative maps of Transylvania, with territorial division by area, occupation and ethnic origin, which were published in different editions in the 16th and 17th centuries (a small part of Wallachia is also represented on the bottom right); three maps, representing Transylvania, published by Blaeu at Amsterdam in 1638 and two maps representing the Danube, from 1688. The maps are signed by world-famous cartographers. Their respective authors are among the first to circulate maps of Transylvania and the Danube and feature territories belonging to present-day Romania.The maps were printed on handmade paper and painted in watercolours and have a history that extends beyondtheir date of publication. Although little information is available for more than four centuries afterwards, the particularities surrounding their circulations convert them into unique heritage objects. The items resurfaced around 1964, in Aureliu Popescu’s possession, a commercial attaché of Romania in Paris until 1931 when he was married to Lelia Popescu Urdărianu. The owner made a sales offer to the Ploiești Museum, which also included other cartographic works.The selling of what is believed to be “soul items” is in fact an offer for subsistence, an action that, in the communist system of the time, may be deemed as an act of survival.Tracking the ownership of the forementioned maps, as well as testing methods used to certify their authenticity, will be indicated hereinafter.