Heinrich von Littrow

Heinrich von Littrow (26 January 1820 in Vienna – 25 April 1895 in Abbazia, today Opatija, Croatia) was an Austrian cartographer and writer, and a convinced advocate of the universalist mission of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

In 1845 von Littrow was appointed professor for stylistics and as a supplement (assistant teacher) for mathematics and nautical science at the academy in Fiume.

From 1852 he introduced the use of colored plastic in sea charts, which soon became the common standard and together with Admiral Baron Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair he worked on the reorganization of the imperial navy.

Quasi on the side, von Littrow developed an inexpensive method to repair quickly the destroyed port of Pesaro and to put it back into operation.

In his poetry von Littrow often called for the unity of men, exalted the multiculturalism of Ciotta's Fiume in which he lived and spoke against all nationalisms and in favour of what he saw as a universalist and humanist mission for his homeland.