Martin Heilwig hailed from the territory of Silesia, a notable region of Central Europe. The celebrated map maker of the 16th century was born in Neisse in the year 1516 and died in the year 1574 in Breslau.
Martin Heilwig was inspired by the teachings of Philip Melanchthon and Martin Luther. In 1561, he published his copper etched single sheet map of Silesia. The cartouche was named Silesiae Typus and was dedicated to Nicolaus Rhedinger. Maps created by Martin Heilwig gained immense popularity when they were published in Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum which was one of the pioneering world atlases of the age.
The map created by Martin Heilwig was republished in another edition of the atlas with the eliminated spelling mistakes and an ornate border. This map appears only in the two inaugural editions of the atlas and is therefore a rarity.
