Cristoforo Buondelmonti

Map of Constantinople (1422) by Buondelmonti, contained in Liber insularum Archipelagi (Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris) is the oldest surviving map of the city, and the only one which antedates the Turkish conquest of the city in 1453

Cristoforo Buondelmonti (1386 - c. 1430) was an Italian monk and traveler, and a pioneer in promoting first-hand knowledge of Greece and its antiquities throughout the Western world.

He left his native city of Florence around 1414 in order to travel, mainly in the Greek islands. He visited Constantinople in the 1420's. He is the author of two historical-geographic works: the Descriptio insulae Cretae (1417, in collaboration with Niccolò Niccoli) and the Liber insularum Archipelagi (1420). These two books are a combination of geographical information and contemporary charts and sailing directions. The last one contains the oldest surviving map of Constantinople, and the only one which antedates the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.

He died c. 1430.

Sources

• G. Gerola, “Le vedute di Costantinopoli di Cristoforo Buondemonti,” SBN 3 (1931): 247–79.

Persondata
Name	Buondelmonti
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1385
Place of birth
Date of death	1430
Place of death