ALLEGORICAL MAPS AS A CULTURAL AND ART PHENOMENON OF THE BAROQUE ERA

Abstract

This article is an organic continuation of previous studies devoted to cartography as a separate, specific type of art, an independent, original cultural and artistic phenomenon. The purpose of this work is to analyze the main types and features of the functioning of allegorical maps. The main focus is on the Baroque period as the most fruitful stage of the concentration of Polish-Ukrainian historical and cultural ties, a way of establishing dialogue and building cooperation. Such a map is positioned as a tool for preserving the national and cultural identity of Ukrainians. Analogues and prototypes of historical allegorical maps presented as artifacts, a manifestation of the artistic genius of artists of the past, are highlighted. A number of works of graphic art and certain examples of calligraphy – prints, cartographic calligraphic inscriptions are analyzed, their role and features of use in the creation and decoration of allegorical maps are considered, which emphasize the features, specifics of a particular region, can contribute to the creation of a complete characteristic portrait of the ruler's personality. It is emphasized that the synthesis of a stylized city map, graphic images and cartographic calligraphic inscriptions using the toolkit of symbolic language presents the map as a kind of information certificate about the geographical knowledge of mankind, at the same time it makes it possible to perceive the map as a work of graphic art. The chronological boundaries of the study are the 17th-18th centuries, one of the most fruitful periods in view of the emergence of new phenomena in the field of art, the intensification of cultural and artistic ties, and the mutual influence of several national traditions. The article is one of the few excursions into cartography as an original form of art, which is given an independent meaning, and among the further perspectives of the study, one can raise the question of the national peculiarities of the Ukrainian development in the field of cartography, which appears as a synthesis of the art of graphics and calligraphy.