Johannes Honterus (also Johannes Honter, Johann Hynter) was born in 1498 the son of a tanner and became one of the most prodigious individuals in the town of Braslov (then Kronstadt). He graduated from the University of Vienna in 1525 with a master of arts. He is known as the “Luther of Transylvania” and “the Apostle of Transylvania” and was instrumental in establishing the Saxon Evangelical church near the end of his life.
     He is the author of the Rudimenta Cosmographiae (1530), and of a Latin grammar in 1530. He drew the map of Transylvania, Chorographia Transylvaniae Sevémbürgen, which is the map in the center of the minisheet issued in 2007 by Romania as part of its German Personages in Romania series. The Seven Cities are the seven German cities founded or settled by the German Saxons in Transylvania Kronstadt, Schäßburg, Mediasch, Hermannstadt, Mühlbach, Bistritz and Klausenburg. He also set up a printing press in Braslov and reorganized the high school. His Cosmographia was reprinted in 1542 with a new title Rudimenta Cosmographica and the text in hexameter verse, to be easier to memorize.
     The map appears in the center of the sheet, and also as the background in each of the stamps.
     Honterus’ map is preserved in the National Library of Hungary.