Nuova Carta Geografica dello Stato Ecclesiastico

Reference: CO-259
Author Ruggiero Giuseppe BOSCOVICH
Year: 1755
Zone: Lazio
Printed: Rome
Measures: 650 x 400 mm
€550.00

Reference: CO-259
Author Ruggiero Giuseppe BOSCOVICH
Year: 1755
Zone: Lazio
Printed: Rome
Measures: 650 x 400 mm
€550.00

Description

Central sheet of Father Ruggiero Boscovich's map of the State of the Church. It depicts Latium.

The Jesuit father Ruggiero Boscovich was born in Ragusa, in Dalmatia, in 1711 but had moved to Rome already in 1737, where he was appointed teacher of the Collegio Romano for his skills in maths and physics, despite he was only 26. Though he can be mentioned among the greatest experts of astronomy and geodesy, he also took part in many engineering projects, such as the drainage of the Paludi Pontine and the organization of the harbour in Rimini.

It was Boscovich himself to point out the need for a topographic-geodetic relief of the Papal State. Once he got the political support of Cardinal Valenti, he also obtained the economic support of Pope Benedetto XIV. For this monumental work he called the English Jesuit father Cristopher Maire, who also suggested to ad just the detective geographic map of the Papal State and establish the right positions of the cities along the territory.

This work was ended in 1754, after three years, and the following year the publication was announced in the De litteraria expeditione.., where both astronomers also explained the aim and the method of their work, describing the technique of triangulations and assessment. The work was finally printed in 1755, finely engraved by the Calcografia Apostolica. The map is not particularly rich in details, but it fixes for good the hydrographical grid, the roadways and the inhabited places.

Bibliografia

F. Ronca e A. Sorbini (a cura di) "Le antiche terre del Ducato di Spoleto", p. 182, 77; Almagià, Documenti Cartografici dello Stato Pontificio pp. 49/51, tav. LXXIX.

Ruggiero Giuseppe BOSCOVICH (Ragusa di Dalmazia 1711 - Milano 1787)

Ruđer Josip Bošković was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the city of Dubrovnik in the Republic of Ragusa (today Croatia), who studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works. He is famous for his atomic theory and made many important contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon.

Ruggiero Giuseppe BOSCOVICH (Ragusa di Dalmazia 1711 - Milano 1787)

Ruđer Josip Bošković was a physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, theologian, Jesuit priest, and a polymath from the city of Dubrovnik in the Republic of Ragusa (today Croatia), who studied and lived in Italy and France where he also published many of his works. He is famous for his atomic theory and made many important contributions to astronomy, including the first geometric procedure for determining the equator of a rotating planet from three observations of a surface feature and for computing the orbit of a planet from three observations of its position. In 1753 he also discovered the absence of atmosphere on the Moon.