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+--- Thread: Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts (/thread-5705.html)
Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts - JustAnotherTheory - 03-05-2026
I recently came across the manuscript: Florence. Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Amiat.1 (viewable You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.), that has an intersting folio. It is 2v-3r, and it looks like this:
Visually, this has nothing to do with the VMS, but I found the concept interesting. It is a top-down view of a palace/bathhouse (can someone confirm this?). If we assume that some circular illustrations in the VMS depict also top-down views of places, such as a bathhouse ("hammams" were already proposed many times for explaining the Rosettes section, for instance), then maybe this is a unique parallel to that kind of imagery.
Recall the "top-down" illustrations from the VMS, such as this one:
And now examine the features of the first picture. All around the edges, we see columns:
And inside, some kind of altar or table with jars on it:
If the VMS author(s) indeed intended to replicate some sort of top-down architecture, then this might somehow provide a clue to it. Can someone more knowledgabe help to translate what this is in the original MS? What are thery trying to depict here?
RE: Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts - Koen G - 03-05-2026
This seems to be a depiction of the Tabernacle (one I hadn't seen before) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The direction labels (arctos, anatol...) seem to be Latin renderings of the Greek.
This kind of "top down with flattened buildings" is often seen in maps, of course, biblical or otherwise.
RE: Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts - JustAnotherTheory - 03-05-2026
(03-05-2026, 03:16 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.This seems to be a depiction of the Tabernacle (one I hadn't seen before) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The direction labels (arctos, anatol...) seem to be Latin renderings of the Greek.
This kind of "top down with flattened buildings" is often seen in maps, of course, biblical or otherwise.
Could the VMS author be inspired by such designs, albeit converting them to circular form?
RE: Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts - Dana Scott - 04-05-2026
(03-05-2026, 06:34 PM)JustAnotherTheory Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.(03-05-2026, 03:16 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.This seems to be a depiction of the Tabernacle (one I hadn't seen before) You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The direction labels (arctos, anatol...) seem to be Latin renderings of the Greek.
This kind of "top down with flattened buildings" is often seen in maps, of course, biblical or otherwise.
Could the VMS author be inspired by such designs, albeit converting them to circular form?
Years ago I posted on Voynich.net that I believe the lower right volvelle on the rosettes folio represents the Jewish Tabernacle. I still believe that this is true.
RE: Top-down views of architecture in medieval manuscripts - Koen G - 04-05-2026
I have similar views on this image. But I'd see it in a Christian eschatological context rather than an illustration of the Hebrew Bible (which the first image in this thread is).
The only thing I found that's even remotely similar is the menorah + temple illustration in this scroll, also depicting eschatological themes: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.