Hy Brasil Observation Point

  • Brasil as shown in relation to Ireland on a map by Abraham Ortelius (1572)

  • The Nautical chart of Western Europe (1473) shows Hy-Brasil in a circular shape. ( British Library )

  • Hy-Brasil in Petrus Plancius’s ‘Orbis Terrarum Typus de Integro Multis in Locis Emendatus’ (Amsterdam, 1594)

  • Research by Barbara Freitag

  • Impression of the island, after the artist observed Hy Brasil in 2004, standing at the south coast of Inis Oírr

  • "Travel through time", impression of Hy Brasil following the first visit to Inis Oirr in 1979. Processed in 2019.

  • HBOP number 1, Gallery the 5 windows, Arnhem, NL

At the west of Ireland the Island Hy Brasil is situated.

The island has been drawn on old sea maps and several people have observed it, including the artist himself in 2004.

Hy Brasil is a ghost island that lies to the west of Ireland (sometimes).

In Irish mythology it is said that the island is shrouded in mist, would only be seen one day in seven years, but cannot be reached.

Many maps show Brasil as two islands next to each other, or as one island with a channel in the middle. Various attempts have been made to find the island, but they have always been fruitless. Nevertheless, Brasil was mentioned on maps until 1865. In 1480 a ship left the port of Bristol looking for the island, a year later two ships left for the same purpose. In 1497, Venetian explorer John Cabot set out with five ships to find Brasil. None of these trips found anything leading to the island.

In 1674 a certain captain John Nisbet reported having observed the island. It would be populated by large black rabbits and a lonely wizard in a stone castle.

The first presentation of this project was on display in July 2019 in Arnhem in art gallery — the 5 windows —

Year / Years:

2019

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