London: World's first travel guide to be showcased at British Museum

The world's first travel guide- 'Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam' will go on public display at the British Museum in the city of London from October 10, 2019- January 26, 2020, according to international reports. Written by Bernhard von Breidenbach and published in 1486, the book quickly became a captivating read for its audience as it gave a detailed description of the travel through Italy and across the Mediterranean.

The world's 'first' travel guide

Representations made by Reiwich were considered to be the most accurate pictures of places such as Cairo and Beirut. The pictures in the guide were so captivating that many people had plans to replicate pictures of Venice and Jerusalem. The decades-old book will a part of the British Museum's collection will now be a part of a new exhibition that is based on how the Islamic world has been influenced by the western form of art. A complete map of Jerusalem will be on public display on October 10. 

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In addition to this, the guide will be a big attraction during the exhibition as it is the first-ever book to have a printed map of Jerusalem and only a few of the first editions have survived and very rarely put on public display because of the pages' sensitivity. Giulia Bartrum, a curator at the British Museum in London, stated that before this guide came into existence, not many people had travelled extensively and that in turn gave evidence that pictures of places such as Jerusalem or Venice were completely made up. The curator further added that the travel guide was a bestseller during its time and one of the main reasons it gained popularity was because of Erhard Reiwich's pictures. 

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The art movement of 'Orientalism'

The exhibition will take into account the art movement of Orientalism (works of western artists) with a special emphasis on the way North Africa and the Middle East were portrayed as lands of beauty in art made specially in Europe and North America. The orientalist movement further stretched its reach to other parts of the world because of Europeans and North Americans travelling to distant lands to understand and study different cultures.

The highly anticipated and revered exhibition will end with an outlook of modern times through the art of four different artists from the Middle East and North Africa, who are still on their quest to find the identity of a Muslim woman. 

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