Mountain ascent

The most important identification I make – the key to everything – is to see the central rondel of the Voynich map as depicting the Rosengarten mountains in the Dolomites. I have described the basis of the identification in a video: here.

Part of my reading of the topography of the map is the following:

On my reading, the corner circles are at a lower altitude than the middle circles, and the middle circles are at a lower altitude to the central circle. The central circle depicts the Rosegarten mountains as sacred spires, the centre and locus of the landscape depicted. The map depicts paths of ascent up to those mountains. This is why there are no diagonal paths from the corners to the centre: you cannot go directly from the lower hills to the highest peaks. You have to climb in steps to higher junctions first.

The side view can be stylized thus:

Understanding this structural topographical feature is one of the keys to understanding the organising principles of the map as a whole.

R. B.