The Crossing of the Imaginaries of Cities by Konrad Grünenberg

The paper analyzes the 1486 Manuscript by Konrad Grünenberg and its graphic documentation of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Grünenberg’s work is presented here as a narrative of the places visited during his journey, aiming to convey the cultural and social significance of cities as a “crossing of imaginaries,” that is, as a narrative and overcoming of ‘geographical boundaries’ through the geometric construction of images from novel viewpoints. These viewpoints become a tool for revealing plural identities through the deliberate selection of perspectives. The methodological approach of this contribution unfolds in several stages: the iconographic analysis of the thirty drawings contained in the manuscript, including urban views; the examination of the historical and cultural context, specifically the study of vedutistic representation and the transition from the symbolic representation of the city to its topographical depiction, with a focus on geometry as a tool for new spatial perception; and a reflection on the evolution of perspectives in the construction of cities, representing a “geometrical revolution” that marks the shift from the traditional vision of the city as an entity enclosed by walls, to the aerial view that uncovers and reveals the urban interior.