These days we can call up maps and aerial views with a tap on a screen or the click of a mouse: Google Earth, for example. However, there was a time when people depended on artists for depictions of geographical areas. Cornelis Anthonisz (1500-1561) was one of these artists. He was the first to paint such a large-scale map of Amsterdam.

A digital copy of the map has been produced for the exhibition. With added animation, it brings Jacob’s Amsterdam to life. Now you can zoom in with a touch screen to see the detail of the painting and discover sixteenth-century Amsterdam. On an interactive screen you can wander through this bustling Catholic commercial city on the eve of the Golden Age.

Work on the project is currently proceeding apace, and expectations are high. Are you intrigued? Do you want to see the result? Would you like to wander the streets of the city depicted in the painting, and find out about the buildings, and feel what it was like to be part of sixteenth-century Amsterdam? The original Bird’s-Eye View of Amsterdam is on show in the Amsterdam Museum exhibition, along with the animation.