Zamak Mercator 2021 calendar

Ladies and Gentlemen, The passing year 2020 has gone down in history as the year of the emergence of the infectious disease covid 19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. What will the new year 2021 bring? Will the new reality of 2021 bring back international travels, great cognitive expeditions, visiting interesting places, sharing memories and photos from these trips with loved ones at the common table?

In the current situation, we do not know the answers to the questions posed, but there is probably no better place than the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow to look for inspiration or reference in its impressive collections, hiding the works of people from different eras.
We decided that the year 2021 on the pages of the Zamak Mercator calendar would remind us of the importance of travel, especially intercontinental ones, and how many discoveries and inventions we owe to them. Often individuals, and as it turned out later, the great of this world, with their courage, the risk of losing property and even life, but also the desire to leave for posterity not only memories, but also specific achievements for the development of science, made many discoveries and created unique works.
Our calendar for 2021, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the voyage and expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor in the service of Spain. Selected maps from the collection of the Jagiellonian Library reflect the titles of albums, atlases and maps of this explorer and sea traveler, one of the most outstanding figures in the history of navigation and geographical discoveries.
The presented maps come from the collections of Georg Braun, Franz Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, Cologne 1572-1594, as well as various cards from the Academie des Sciences et des Arts, Contenant les Vies, & les Eloges Historiques des Hommes Illustres, par Isaac Bullart, Paris 1682, Ortelius Abraham, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Editio ultima, Antverpiae 1603 and 1624, Ostindien diesseits und jenseits des Ganges, Wien, 1806, Die Erde in zwei Halbkugeln, Prag, 1807, Charte von Ostindien Jenseits des Ganges, Prag, 1812, Mappe Mondeo u description de Globe Terrestre, Paris, 1774, Westliche Halb Kugel, Brün, 1786, Die Beiden Halbkugeln Samt den neuesten Entdeckungen, Wien, [after 1780].
Magellan's expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1521 and was the first to cross the strait (Strait of Magellan) in South America connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. The expedition members were also the first Europeans to notice that:

• "Camel without a hump", is probably a llama, Andean guanaco, vicuna or alpaca,
• black "goose", an animal that had to be stripped, not plucked - probably a penguin,
• The size of the Earth turned out to be many times greater than any scientific estimates of the time - the distance of "Victoria" was 69 thousand kilometers.

However, greater than the confirmation of the sphericity, and thus the unimaginable size of our planet at that time, the surprise for the Magellan crew was the failure to count one day. It was customary to keep precise records of time and place measurements throughout the journey. Initially, Magellan took several dozen 30-minute hourglasses. While returning around Africa, the crew was forced to stop in Cape Verde. There, on Wednesday, July 9, 1521, the crew found out that it was Thursday (the next calendar day). The crew could have committed the mortal sin of not keeping fast on Fridays, or mass on Sundays, etc. The issue was clarified only after returning to Seville. After completing the journey, it turned out that they "lost" one day. The analysis of the error (when circling the Earth and crossing each degree of longitude, the sun rises 4 minutes earlier - or later depending on the direction of travel - which at 360° gives a difference of 1440 minutes, i.e. one day) contributed to the future determination of the date line .

We are convinced that the calendar for 2021, in addition to the calendar, will also be a source of reflection for you about what may become the most important for every person in a specific era and time.

Wishing you all the best in the New Year 2021, remain:

Boguslaw Kiszka
Vice President

Agnieszka Socha Żyznowska
Member of the Board

Piotr Żyznowski
Chairman of the Supervisory Board