In the 700 years since its creation, Hereford Cathedral’s Mappa Mundi has suffered many vicissitudes: hidden for a time under the cathedral floor, stashed in a Wiltshire coalmine during the Second World War and, at some point in its history, shorn of its wings painted with scenes of the Annunciation.

Yinka Shonibare, Creatures of the Mappa Mundi
Hereford Cathedral

In the 700 years since its creation, Hereford Cathedral’s Mappa Mundi has suffered many vicissitudes: hidden for a time under the cathedral floor, stashed in a Wiltshire coalmine during the Second World War and, at some point in its history, shorn of its wings painted with scenes of the Annunciation. But the flights of fancy enlivening the surface of the largest medieval map still in existence have not ceased to fire the creative imagination.

The latest artist to succumb to their fascination is Yinka Shonibare, whose “Creatures of the Mappa Mundi” – a set of quilts made in collaboration with local community art groups – have just gone on show at the cathedral (until 1 June). With their vibrant hues and appliquéd passages of the African-patterned, Dutch-manufactured fabrics that have become the Nigerian-British artist’s trademark, the quilts threaten to outshine the original, discoloured with age.

They turn a coloured spotlight on the bizarre life forms imagined by the map-maker, one Richard of Haldingham, to inhabit the far-flung regions of Africa and Asia. These include the Monocules, men with a single eye and one enormous nine-toed foot, and the Bonnacon, a bull-like animal with curly rams’ horns capable of spraying hot manure over three acres, scalding anyone in its path.

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login