It is exciting to look at how cartographers saw the globe in the 16th century. A delicate and massive map has been fully restored for the first time by experts from the Stanford Libraries earlier this month. /Photo from huanqiu.com

The map was hand-drawn 430 years ago by Urbano Monte, a little-known Italian geographer. In the past centuries, copy consisted of 60 individual pages just preserved in a small Italian library until map collector David Rumsey found and purchased another copy and let the whole set been digitized and assembled. /Photo from huanqiu.com

The unusual circle shape of the map with the size of 10 foot by 10 foot reflects the map-maker’s intention: the earth is close to a three-dimensional sphere using a two-dimensional surface. Full of fantastical creatures and artistic embellishments, like sailors traveling the seas, unicorns to ships, the map represents the knowledge and misconceptions of the time. /Photo from huanqiu.com