diff --git a/src/objectliterals.exports b/src/objectliterals.exports
index 7ed3f72d17..1acfeb2081 100644
--- a/src/objectliterals.exports
+++ b/src/objectliterals.exports
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 @exportObjectLiteral ol.MapOptions
 @exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.controls Array.<ol.control.Control>|undefined
 @exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.interactions ol.Collection|undefined
-@exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.layers ol.Collection|undefined
+@exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.layers Array.<ol.layer.Layer>|ol.Collection|undefined
 @exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.renderer ol.RendererHint|undefined
 @exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.renderers Array.<ol.RendererHint>|undefined
 @exportObjectLiteralProperty ol.MapOptions.target Element|string
diff --git a/src/ol/map.js b/src/ol/map.js
index 06f997f7b4..8f9af2249f 100644
--- a/src/ol/map.js
+++ b/src/ol/map.js
@@ -823,8 +823,18 @@ ol.Map.createOptionsInternal = function(mapOptions) {
    */
   var values = {};
 
-  values[ol.MapProperty.LAYERS] = goog.isDef(mapOptions.layers) ?
-      mapOptions.layers : new ol.Collection();
+  var layers;
+  if (goog.isDef(mapOptions.layers)) {
+    if (goog.isArray(mapOptions.layers)) {
+      layers = new ol.Collection(goog.array.clone(mapOptions.layers));
+    } else {
+      goog.asserts.assert(mapOptions.layers instanceof ol.Collection);
+      layers = mapOptions.layers;
+    }
+  } else {
+    layers = new ol.Collection();
+  }
+  values[ol.MapProperty.LAYERS] = layers;
 
   values[ol.MapProperty.VIEW] = goog.isDef(mapOptions.view) ?
       mapOptions.view : new ol.View2D();