According to Wikipedia, "A mappa mundi ... is any medieval European map of the world." The one at Hereford is (again according to Wikipedia) "the largest medieval map known still to exist."
The Hereford Mappa Mundi is commonly known in the UK as "the Mappa Mundi". It came to mass attention in 1988, when a financial crisis in the Diocese of Hereford raised the possibility of its being sold. It was saved for the diocese, largely by donations from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and from Sir John Paul Getty, and is now housed in a new Library building in the Cathedral Close, which opened in 1996.
Sir John Paul Getty (a.k.a. John Paul Getty Jr.) was the son of the American indstrialist J. Paul Getty, and father of John Paul Getty III. He was born and raised in the United States, but became a confirmed anglophile. He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 1986, for services to causes including cricket, art and the Conservative Party, and in 1997 he became a British citizen. He died in London in 2003, aged 70.
© Haydn Thompson 2017