Messina

Title

Messina

Description

Map shows the Sicilian city of Messina as a bird's eye view.

ca. 1650

Artist

Merian (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

Messina was founded in the 8th century BC. Because of its favorable location, it was settled by Ionian colonists after Thucydides from Kyme, followed shortly afterwards by other settlers from Kyme, Chalkis and other places in Evia. At the end of the First Punic War, Messina was a free city that was allied with Rome. It soon became part of the Province of Sicily. Until the 9th century, the city experienced an economic boom as an important trading center. In 843 the city was conquered by the Arabs, in 1061 by the Normans. In 1232 the city was the center of an unsuccessful uprising against Emperor Friedrich II. After the rule of the Staufer and Anjous, Messina became the capital of the Regno di Sicilia under the rule of Aragon. It was not until the 16th century that Palermo became the preferred seat of kings and viceroys. In 1783, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the city. Much of the buildings, including the cathedral and palaces of the Palazzata, were destroyed by the quake and the subsequent tidal wave. The reconstruction was based on a regular city map with wide streets and spacious squares. The Palazzata was rebuilt in the classicist style from 1808 under the direction of Giacomo Minutoli.