Fra Mauro's mappa mundi

This world map, considered the greatest memorial of medieval cartography, was created between 1457 and 1459 by the Italian monk Fra Mauro. It is a circular planisphere drawn on parchment, mounted on a wooden stretcher frame. It is around two meters (6.5 feet) in diameter. It is an inverted, circular planisphere showing Asia, Europe, and Africa (oriented with the South at the top). The original map was commissioned by King Afonso V of Portugal and created by Fra Mauro and his assistant Andrea Bianco, a sailor and cartographer. The map was completed on April 24, 1459 and sent to Portugal, but has since been lost. Fra Mauro died two years later, while he was making a copy of the map for the Signoria of Venice. The copy was finished by Andrea Bianco.