Valvasor Janez Vajkard | Ramschissl Bartolomej: Opus Insignium Armorumque / Velika grbovna knjiga I-II

Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Bartolomej Ramschissl

Reprint of one of the most valuable and beautiful Slovenian books, author Janez Vajkard Valvasor.

The book contains 2,033 coats of arms: kings and kingdoms, counts and barons and nobles, which were collected by J V. Valvasor himself and painted by Bartolomaeus (Jernej). Ramschissl.

Contents of the kit:

I. Opus Insignium Armorumque II. Studies/Studien/Studies:
Branko Reisp: Valvasor and his time
Božo Otorepec: Valvasor's book of coats of arms
Emilian Tevc: Bartolomej Ramschissl - painter of large books of coats of arms

The book, which has survived all the historical storms of the last 300 years, is kept by the Zagreb Metropolitan Library Archdiocese.

Valvasor's committee at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts has now taken care of its precise facsimile: after a careful analysis of the paper, Papirnica-Radeče produced the appropriate paper for it; with the most modern laser technology, original color shades are ensured; the same goes for premium printing. With the help of the leather industry of Vrhnik, Aureo-Celje and the European Steinbrener from Scharding, an authentic and valuable binding for the book was made.

It also contains Croatian coats of arms.

Taken from:

Valvasor [valva:'zor], Johann Weichard (Slovenian Janez Vajkard), Slovenian polymath of Italian origin (Ljubljana, 28. V. 1641 - Krško, 19. IX. 1693). He comes from a noble family that came to Kranjska from Bergamo (Italy) in the 16th century. After studying rhetoric with the Jesuits in Ljubljana, he traveled to Germany (1659), Italy (1669), Africa, Switzerland and France, and during 1663-64. fought against the Ottomans in Slavonia in the service of N. Šubić Zrinski. From 1670 he studied history, mathematics, archaeology, magic and alchemy in Lyon. In 1672, he returned to his homeland and bought the Wagensberg (Bogenšperk) castle near Litija, where he organized a rich collection gathered during numerous travels (10,000 books, collections of art, manuscripts, graphics, coins, noble coats of arms, mathematical instruments, artifacts, etc.). He turned the castle into a cultural center where he gathered participants to create a geographical-historical-ethnographic work in which he would give a complete picture of Carniola, and in 1678 he also established a workshop and printing press for copper engraving there and began publishing cartographic, topographical and historiographical works about Carniola and Carinthia. Among his helpers were P. Vitezović Ritter and several masters from the Netherlands and Germany. Although he fought again against the Ottomans in 1683 at the head of the Styrian detachments, his military career did not hinder his scientific career. Thus, in 1687, he became a member of the Royal Society in London. However, due to high costs, he had to sell the castle and all his collections in the end. The library and the graphic collection were bought in 1690 by the Bishop of Zagreb, A. I. Mikulić, and thus founded the Metropolitan Library. The graphic sheets are located in the Metropolitan Library of the Zagreb Archdiocese. Main works: Topography of the present Vojvodina of Carniola (Topographia ducatus Carnioliae modernae, 1679), Complete topography of the old and current Archduchy of Carinthia (Topographia Archiducatus Carinthiae antiquae et modernae completa, 1681) and Glory of the Vojvodina of Carniola (Die Ehre des Herzogthums Crain, 1689). In his works, individual Croatian cities are also graphically and historically treated.