From a small island in the Venetian lagoon, a 15th-Century monk somehow designed an astonishingly accurate planisphere of the world. On the second floor of the Library of Saint Mark in Venice, a ...

This first edition of the 15th-century book Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam features the first accurate printed illustrations of Jerusalem and Venice, among other cities.

2. What got you here won’t get you there. Around the 15th century, the Venetian empire was at its zenith. Its traders had a de facto monopoly on spice trade.

In 15th-century Europe, the apocalypse weighed heavily on the minds of the people. Plagues were rampant. The once-great capital of the Roman empire, Constantinople, had fallen to the Turks.

Notes from the Venice Biennale: Hot-rod gondolas in the Grand Canal and L.A. art in a 15th-century palazzo May 31, 2011 3:52 PM PT Share via Close extra sharing options ...