News Release

2002-09

The Belgian Connection: Original Maps, Atlases and Engravings Featured in National Library of Canada Exhibit

Ottawa, May 1, 2002  -  A 1635 map of the North Pole and one of the first published atlases are among the many rare documents featured in a new exhibit at the National Library of Canada. Canadian Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and Belgian Ambassador Luc Carbonez officially opened the exhibition today.

The Belgian Connection, sponsored by the Embassy of Belgium and the National Library of Canada, in cooperation with the National Archives of Canada, centres around maps, atlases and travel accounts of explorers of the New World and early missionaries of the 16th and 17th century.

His Excellency Luc Carbonez, Ambassador of Belgium, Dr. Roch Carrier, National Librarian,
Dr. Ian Wilson, National Archivist, and Madame Claire Carbonez-Dejaeger, curator of the exhibition, were among the dignitaries present at the official opening, and spoke on the importance of the exhibit and how it demonstrates some of the surprising connections between our two countries.

Featured in the exhibit are the works of Belgian cartographers and chroniclers such as Abraham Ortelius, Gerard Mercator, Théodore de Bry and Cornelius de Jode. These works are among the oldest original documents in the collections of both the National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada. The National Library’s Rare Book Collection also includes works of Jesuit and Récollet missionaries who came to New France at the end of the 17th century, Louis Hennepin being the most famous. These maps, atlases and travel journals provided seafarers and adventurers with valuable information on the New World.

The exhibit will run until the end of June in Exhibition Room D of the National Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Admission is free of charge.

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Information:

Pauline M. Portelance
Media Relations Officer
National Library of Canada
613-996-6128

Claire Carbonez-Dejaeger
Exhibit Curator
Embassy of Belgium
613-236-7267