Catalan police recover two stolen 16th-century maps in London

The Catalan police Mossos d'Esquadra recovered from London two maps dating back from 1504 that were taken away from Catalonia's National Library. 

On April 10, 2024, a fake researcher asked the Catalan National Library for the compilation work 'Margarita Philosophica', which is considered the first encyclopedia.  

The alleged researcher ripped apart a page about how to work perspectives, and two maps with a big historical value. 

They are important in history because they were made in a period of transition at the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th, when Christopher Columbus' trips contributed with new geographical information. 

In one of the maps there is no "discovery" while in the other there is proof of the "New World". 

The Historical Heritage Unit of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos d'Esquadra worked together with the Metropolitan Police of London on the investigation. 

The Carles Rahola Library in Girona was the first to report to the police that a volume had been returned with some pages missing.  

From that library they informed other ones in Catalonia and Spain, where the National Library saw that they also had some pages missing. 

The investigation is still open.