This is only the second recorded example of this separately published map recording the Turkish invasion of Venetian held Cyprus in 1570. The war lasted from July 1570 to August 1571 and included famous battles for Nicosia and Famagusta. The Ottoman Empire’s constant threat to Europe at this period consumed minds across the continent. A reason why this map was produced in Germany. The cartography is derived from Paulo Forlani however, Zundt illustrates the attack on the island recording pictorially the build-up of forces on the shore of Turkey near the port of Anemur and the naval battles around the island. These detail the forces around Larnaca, and the bombardment of Nicosia and Famagusta. Between these two cities towns are numbered referenced in a key far right. The inset lower right illustrates the whole of the Mediterranean Sea.

The text upper left describes the nature of the island, its size, produce etc. It highlights the importance of Famagusta as a trading port for spices arrive from the east for transportation to Venice and onwards into central Europe. He concludes with a prayer, ‘may God decide to be of assistance against the tyrant’. He places his imprint lower left with the date 24 August 1570, barely one month after the Turkish siege began. The Turkish invasion began around 1 July; Nicosia fell on the 9 September following a 45-day siege. Famagusta survived a year, falling on the 1 August 1571.

Matthias Zundt worked in Nuremberg, but we know nothing of his birth. He was an engraver, goldsmith, and sculptor. Karrow identifies thirteen copper-engraved maps and views produced between 1565 and 1571. Several related to the Turkish wars, the first being the siege of Malta. He is believed to have died in 1581. The only other recorded example belongs to the ENOSIS-ISOTIS club in Limassol. It was considered the highlight of an exhibition of 77 maps at the Symposium on Cyprus Cartography held in Nicosia in April 1984. Burden (1984) IMCoS Journal Vol. 4 no. 4, p. 15; IMCoS Journal (1984) Vol. 4 no. 2, p.7; Karrow (1993) 88/11, pp. 617-21; Stylianou (1980) 53, pp. 47-8, figs 57, 57a, 57b; Zacharakis (1992) 2407.