The Department of Cartography and Geoinformatics at Eötvös Loránd University has started a project to save the cartographic heritage of globe making. In the first stage, those globes are processed digitally that have some relationship to Hungary. These digital products are continuously placed in the Virtual Globes Museum run by the Department. The collection of this museum is accessible through the Internet. The methods developed for the virtual museum offer new ways of the virtual restoration of damaged globes, the reconstruction of virtual facsimile globes, and the recreation of virtual contemporary facsimile globes. Working out the methods for the digital virtual facsimile and the digital virtual reconstruction of old or historical globes is of major importance in the restoration of globes. In many cases, the colours and letters faded on these globes. The method described in the paper will ensure the restoration without the risk of causing further damage on the existing, sometimes only copies. An intermediate stage of the digital processing of a large Hungarian globe is described to show the challenges that cartographers may meet when working with old globes to prepare their virtual copies. The processing of globes by digital methods requires the introduction and discussion of new terms to.