Want to travel Europe to the USA in a matter of minutes and seconds? No, we aren’t talking about those lame futuristic aircraft that won’t be made till 2050. No, this time, you can actually do that, sort of. This beautifully carved miniature world in Denmark named Verdenskortet is as fabulous as it gets. It is a map lover’s paradise.
The word means “World Map” in the Danish language, and almost all of the world is shown here, complete with ponds full of water representing oceans. It was a meteoric effort by a single man Søren Poulsen and is actually quite old as the man was born in 1888 on the same turf where the map currently stands. He moved to United States and didn’t return till he was a young man of twenty years. He had a singular and deep love for Geography and began construction in 1944. He didn’t stop working on the beautifully detailed map till he was 81 years old and died in 1969.
His amazing effort has left us with an incredible map of the world that we all can see for ourselves. The truly appreciable fact from the Verdenskortet is that he didn’t even have weight-lifting machinery and had to rely on wheelbarrows, push carts and many other simple mechanical tools to do his job. It was a massive project that he pulled off and one of the heavier stone weighed almost one ton and he did it all by himself.
The current project site spans an area of 408 meters and is revered by the local population. Visitors can come and see this world replica and learn a lot in the process. Its scale is 27 meters to 111 kilometers. There might be bigger maps in the world that this, but it is a uniquely historic achievement by an amazing mind. Take a bow, Mr. Poulsen!