19. OLD SECRETS
Buying an older house at a cheap price and then restoring it is a smart move. However, you never know what you might stumble upon during the restoration process because the people who previously owned the house might have hidden things inside the basement or even the chimney!
Our story begins when a man from Scotland started doing work on his house. Everything was going just fine until he started cleaning the chimney. To the man’s surprise, the chimney contained a decades-old secret that was going to make him famous for finding it!
18. SOMETHING IS WRONG
As the man was cleaning the chimney, he saw that something was stuck inside. Without giving any second thought, the man pulled out that “something” and his jaw dropped when he saw what it was.
17. OLD RAGS
The man stumbled upon some old rags and as he was pulling them out they started crumbling. Noticing that, he figured that he might as well call some experts and see if the old rags have some historical value. You never know…
16. THE RAGS ARE CRUMBLING
The rags were crumbling every time the man touched them and this led him to believe that they were really old. The interesting thing about them is that they had a strange drawing on the sides. What could that drawing be?
15. CALLING THE EXPERTS
The man called the experts at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburg and they told him to pack the old rags and to send them to their laboratory so that they can take a closer look. He was expecting the old fabric to be old, but not THAT old…
14. WHAT WAS IT?
The man was really curious to see what was he has found and decided to take the old cloth to the National Library himself after packing it safely so that it won’t crumble. When an expert took the content out of the box… she was in awe!
13. THE EXPERTS
As soon as the experts unboxed the old rags they knew that it was something important. The drawing on the sides made it look like the old rags are in fact a painting. Although, they were wrong about this as you will soon find out.
12. INCREDIBLE DISCOVERY
The experts didn’t waste any time and they started trying to piece the old rags together. After a few hours, the pieces were finally coming together. It started to look like an old drawing, but was it?
11. OLD MAP
To everyone’s surprise, the old rags were, in fact, an ancient map. The design of the map left the artists in awe and they were determined to figure out who painted it.
10. HIDDEN MAP
The interesting thing about the map is why was it hidden inside the chimney in the first place? Was the map showing the way to a secret location or were the people of Scotland not allowed to display it in their homes?
9. DETERMINE THE AGE
After carefully analyzing drawing that appears on the map, the experts managed to find out the exact date when the map was painted and you will never believe just how old it is!
8. DECADES OLD MAP
The map had the faces of King William III of England and Queen Mary which leads the experts to believe that it was painted back in 1690 AD. Can you believe this? Why was a map this old hidden in the first place?
7. THE DUTCH MARINE POWER
Experts were baffled by the fact that the map didn’t just focus on the English Royals, but it also showed off the Dutch marine conquering unknown lands. This small detail is what helped the experts figure out who made it!
6. GEORGE WILDEY
The experts concluded that a man by the name of George Wildey of London was the one who made the map. George Wildey is known for “copying” other maps and this makes sense why both the Dutch and the English Royals appeared on it.
5. DRAWING THE MAP
According to the experts, George Wildey copied maps from other nations and drew in the faces of the English Royals on them as his “signature move”. The next picture will show you the reason why the map was hidden in the chimney!
4. KING WILLIAM III
The experts were able to determine that the reason why the map was hidden in the chimney is because it had the face of King William III on it. This is a Protestant King and this is why Scottish people were not allowed to display the map on their walls proudly.
3. PROTESTANT KING
Who would’ve ever guessed that the reason why the map was hidden all along is because it featured the face of a Protestant King? Keep reading to find out how the map looks after a full restoration.
2. FULL RESTORATION
The experts were determined to fully restore the map after finding out about its interesting past. They wanted the map to be displayed in the museum and they had to separate it by layers and piece it back together.
1.THE FULL MAP
This is how amazing the map looks after being displayed in the museum. The experts didn’t want to fill in the blank spots because it would take away from its ancient aspect.