Map of the Antarctic region 1895

Objectnumber: RA 0324

Length: 179.0 cm

Width: 147.5 cm

Materials: wood, paper

The map is believed to have belonged to Roald Amundsen since his youth and still hangs in his study at Uranienborg. Vincenz von Haardt’s map of the southern polar regions is considered the first modern wall map of Antarctica and shows the expeditions that had explored the continent up until 1895.

In the earliest descriptions of the collections at Uranienborg after it became a museum in 1934, it is noted that this map was also part of the Belgica expedition. Additionally, the map stands out because it has a penciled-in route corresponding to Fram’s journey to the Bay of Whales and on to South America in 1911. Hjalmar Johansen writes in his diary from the Fram expedition that they had a large map of Antarctica hanging in the chart room aboard Fram – perhaps it was this one?