Cartography - Archive of Exhibitions Which Closed in 2023


Please see Cartography - Calendar of Exhibitions for a current calendar of exhibitions.
Click here for archive of past exhibitions.


July 22, 2022 - January 8, 2023 - New Haven
The exhibition The World in Maps, 1400-1600 presents many of the most historically significant manuscript maps from the late medieval and early modern period from the Beinecke Library’s vast collection of maps. It is focused on portolan charts - large, colorful charts that showed the shoreline of the Mediterranean, and were used by sailors to navigate from port to port. The flat display cases on the ground floor of the historic Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, 121 Wall St., enable us to show twelve large maps alongside one another to allow the viewer to make comparisons between maps made at various periods and times in the crucial years surrounding the discovery, from the European perspective, of the new world.



December 8, 2022 - January 8, 2023 – Nicosia
The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation is hosting the Satirical Cartography Exhibition Historical & Caricature Accounts of Europe, before, during and after World War One, from Panayiotis N. Soucacos collection. The exhibition will take place at Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation ground floor space for periodical exhibitions, 86-90 Phaneromenis St. Twenty-three maps which represent three different historical time periods of the period before World War I, period during World War I, and period after World War I are displayed.



October 1, 2022 - January 14, 2023 – Arlington
The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections presents what promises to be an exciting and provocative exhibit titled The Shifting Shapes of Early Texas which will feature some highlights from its extensive collections of maps, prints, and manuscripts. Beginning with the earliest European and Indigenous contacts in the land that became Texas, the exhibit will use some iconic pieces of paper Texana to explore how concepts of the environment and its people were in constant flux over time.



September 16, 2022 - February 4, 2023 - Nelson, British Columbia, Canada
From the copper mines of the Boundary District through to the coalfields of the Crowsnest, railways shaped the development of social, political, and economic life in the Kootenays. As the various and competing rail lines created a vast transportation network that connected east to west, it also brought calamity – cutting through Indigenous territories, causing environmental distress, and exploiting First Nations people and Chinese immigrants in work camps. Back on Track, the latest history exhibition at the Touchstones Nelson Museum, 502 Vernon Street, explores both the vast opportunities and the detrimental practices that accompanied the expansion of the railways in the west. The exhibition features artifacts, photographs, maps, and other documents from museums, archives, and individuals around the region and beyond.



September 28, 2022 - February 5, 2023 - Toledo, Spain
The exhibition Cities of the world. views and plans brings together a careful selection of views and plans of world cities throughout history, with the purpose that Georg Braun summarized in the prologue to his monumental "Civitates Orbis Terrarum" at the end of the 16th century: "What would be more pleasant than In the safety of our homes, without fear of danger, to be able to contemplate in these books the shape of the entire earth we inhabit, adorned with the splendor of its various regions, rivers, cities, and fortresses?" Exhibition can be seen at Museo de Santa Cruz, Sala de exposiciones temporales C/ Cervantes, 3.



February 14, 2020 – February 12, 2023 – Oakland
We all use maps in our everyday lives—to navigate public transportation, find places to eat, and visualize big data like weather patterns or political opinions. But have you ever considered the deeper stories maps tell us? In You Are Here: California Stories on the Map, you’ll discover there’s more to maps than meets the eye. Showcasing a diverse range of maps from Oakland, the Bay Area, and California—from environmental surroundings and health conditions to community perspectives and creative artworks—experience how maps can be a powerful tool to share unique points of view and imagine a better future. Explore new perspectives of familiar places through maps made by the community, and mark your own stories on the community map inside the exhibition. The exhibit encompasses more than 50 maps divided with segmented focus on climate change, nature, public health, community projects, and maps from a personal perspective. It can be viewed in Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St.



November 12, 2022 - February 18, 2023 - North Devon, England
The Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon tells the stories of the people and landscapes of North Devon. The exhibition Mapping Our Town accompanies the publication of a new book edited by Todd Gray, exploring 17th century Barnstaple. Highlighting a recent discovery in the Bodleian Library. A detailed map of Barnstaple during 1650 by Richard Newcourt, 200 years earlier than any known map of the area. Returning to Barnstaple, this map together with items from our own and South West Heritage Trust collections, including paintings, the Abbott family sketchbook, architectural fragments, cannon balls and documents aims to create a picture of Barnstaple in 1650.



November 17, 2022 - February 19, 2023 – Oxford
The Bodleian Libraries, partnered with the Museum of Colour and Fusion Arts, has curated These Things Matter: Empire, Exploitation and Everyday-Racism, a new exhibition exploring the ‘devastating and long term effects’ of the British Empire. These Things Matter will showcase how maps, letters and the Bible were edited deliberately to manipulate millions of people and to justify the Transatlantic Slave Trade. These Things Matter runs in Blackwell Hall at the Weston Library and online through the Museum of Colour.



September 1, 2016 – February 2023 – Washington
Mapping a Growing Nation: Abel Buell’s Map of the United States, 1784 is an exhibition at the Library of Congress featuring the first map of the newly independent United States that was compiled, printed and published in America by an American. The exhibition will be located in the Great Hall North Gallery on the first floor of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E. Free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Rare and historically important, the Abel Buell map also was the first map to be copyrighted in the United States. Seven copies of the map are known to exist, and this copy is considered the best preserved and, therefore, is the most frequently chosen for illustration of Buell’s work. Also on display will be four early maps of North America by John Mitchell, Carington Bowles, Thomas Hutchins and William Faden, which were created from 1755 to 1778. Buell most likely consulted these maps when he engraved his large wall map. A 1784 map of the United States by William McMurray, which was published nine months after Buell’s map, will complete the exhibition.



February 23, 2023 - March 15, 2023 - Mount Vernon
Now on display inside the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center is Mapping the American Revolution: Maps from the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection. Featured are ten maps from the Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection that showcase the trajectory of the American Revolution.



December 5, 2022 - March 26, 2023 - Mexico City
If you’re interested in a glimpse of Mexico City during pre-Hispanic times, or at other moments in its centuries of history, the Usted está aquí (You are here) exhibit at the Museo de la Ciudad de México, José María Pino Suárez 30, is for you. The exhibit showcases 12 historical maps of what is now Mexico City, dating as far back as the 16th century. The public will be able to see the “Map of Nuremberg” or Map of Cortés dated 1524 from the Library of Congress, in addition to the “Form and survey of Mexico City” by Juan Gómez de Trasmonte, drawn up in 1628, from the National Library of France or the “Topographic Plan of the Federal District”, drawn up in 1857 by the Commission of the Valley of Mexico City and the metropolitan area and the Plan of Mexico City, edition of 1879 by Agustín Ocampo and Agustín Arellano, among others.



April 11, 2022 – March 29, 2023 – London
The exhibition, Magnificent Maps of London, will be at the London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road. It will be open Monday to Thursday 10am – 4pm and entry is free. The Civitas Londinium, also known as the Woodcut or Agas map, was made by an unnamed map maker in the 1570s and gives a unique bird’s eye view of London, across the Thames from Southwark towards the hills of Hampstead and Highgate. This very rare opportunity to see one of only three known copies of the map will transport visitors to the streets (and fields) of Tudor London. The exhibition also includes maps created in the 19th-century showing the spread of then fatal diseases like typhoid, cholera and smallpox, which inflicted terrible loss of life in Victorian London. The exhibition will also include work by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, John Rocque, John Ogilby and William Morgan, Richard Horwood, and Christopher and John Greenwood.



August 25, 2022 – March 31, 2023 - San Francisco
Mapping a Changing California: Selections from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century at the California Historical Society, 678 Mission St., shows how the history of cartography is intertwined with the formation of California as a sub-nation of almost 40 million inhabitants. Maps, in short, didn’t just lay out this topologically weird state. They all but created it. An exhibit about surveying the land, laying claim to it and, ultimately marketing it, the show includes everything from geographically dubious illustrations from Junipero Serra’s era to maps of ghost towns to mid-’60s guides to Disneyland attractions. The Gulf of California might not extend to the Oregon border, but this fake island has a lot going for it—with the acknowledgment that the discipline of cartography grew out of imperialism.



February 1, 2023 - March 31, 2023 - Dix Hills, New York
The Huntington Historical Society, in partnership with the Half Hollow Hills Community Library, presents The Iconic Fish: Early Maps of Long Island. This exhibit features maps of Long Island from the 17th through the 20th centuries, with a focus on both their artistic and informative qualities. The maps on display showcase the evolution of cartography and beautifully illustrate the history and development of Long Island. The maps are grouped into three categories: overall maps of Long Island; atlas maps; and specialty and souvenir maps. Each type of map was created for different purposes and gives us different perspectives on the island we know and love. Exhibit can be seen at the Half Hollow Hills Community Library, 55 Vanderbilt Parkway.



January 21, 2023 – April 10, 2023 – London
Discover the rich story of Spanish and Hispanic art and culture from the ancient world to the early 20th century through over 150 fascinating works including maps, drawings, and illuminated manuscripts at the Royal Academy of Arts in Burlington House, Piccadilly. Spain and the Hispanic World / Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library features the famous "World Map" of 1526 by Giovanni Vespucci; and culminates with Sorolla’s colourful, large-scale study for his monumental series of 14 paintings, “Vision of Spain”. Founded in New York in 1904, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library is home to the most extensive collection of Spanish art outside of Spain. Presented for the first time in the UK, it will offer visitors a chance to trace the great diversity of cultures and religions – from Celtic to Islamic, Jewish and Christian – that have shaped and enriched what we today understand as Spanish culture.



December 1, 2022 - April 16, 2023 - Bruges
In 1561, the Liberty of Bruges, the largest and richest castellany in the county of Flanders, commissioned Pieter Pourbus to paint a map of its entire territory, including all the roads, watercourses, villages and towns. Ten years later, the artist-cartographer delivered his completed magnum opus to his patrons. A new exhibition gives you the opportunity to make your acquaintance with ‘The painted map of the Liberty of Bruges’ (1571). A work that straddles the boundary between art and cartography, Pourbus’ detailed map depicts the harbour landscape of Bruges at the end of the 16th century in a unique manner. In the exhibition Pieter Pourbus. Master of Maps, the painted map occupies the central position, both literally and figuratively. With the aid of a number of remarkable landscape-archaeological finds and the use of magnifying glasses and digital screens, this unique map and the lost medieval landscape it depicts will be brought back to life. Exhibition can be seen in Groeninge Museum, Dijver 12.



October 28, 2022 – April 30, 2023 - Miami Beach
The Wolfsonian—Florida International University, 1001 Washington Avenue, charts global ambition in Plotting Power: Maps and the Modern Age, Maps make the world. Mirrors of our loftiest dreams and deepest fears, maps draw literal lines between "you" and "me," "us" and "other," more often reflecting how we see it than how it is. Plotting Power follows the use of map-like imagery for political, commercial, and other purposes in the first half of the 20th century, when the possibilities of travel and technology opened new horizons for global ambition. Featuring Wolfsonian collection items including paintings, prints, posters, industrial design, and graphic materials, the exhibition traces how maps and other representations of geography were shaped by design strategies, diverse agendas, and signature stories of modern history.



March 2, 2023 - April 30, 2023 – Hudson, New York
The Hudson Area Library, 51 N. 5th St., hosts an exhibition, Historic Maps Of Hudson, from its Local Historical Maps & Atlases collection. This collection of maps, made between 1740 and 2001, illustrates the ways our city has changed and stayed the same over part of its long history.



November 1, 2022 - April 2023 - Pennsburg, Pennsylvania
Mapping Pennsylvania History includes never-before displayed maps which illustrate southeastern Pennsylvania, and historical events in the region from the colonial period to the early 1900s. A new exhibit at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary St., shows original historical and large-reproduction maps that trace the growth of the state and the city of Philadelphia, what the maps designate as “the Native American presence,” and significant historical events, such as Washington’s encampments in Montgomery County. Special maps in the exhibit include the first printed map of Montgomery County (dated 1830) and a map of Philadelphia and vicinity (1860), both on view for the first time.



May 5-14, 2023 – Glasgow
A new ‘bird’s eye view’ map of Glasgow has been created by a city artist – almost 160 years after the original caused a sensation. Will Knight used drones to help him make the artwork, which is an incredibly detailed snapshot of modern Glasgow, while his predecessor, Thomas Sulman, did his research in a hot air balloon. Now, both the Sulman map of 1864 and the Knight map are being displayed side by side in an exhibition at the New Glasgow Society, 1307 Argyle Street.



July 20, 2022 – May 18, 2023 - East Molesey, Surrey
In the early days of formal education, embroidery substituted for reading, writing and maths, so we see the use of "Map Samplers" in which girls learned writing and geography as well as embroidery. A Girl's Education in Stitch, an exhibition of the Royal School of Needlework can be visited in Hampton Court Palace.



April 21, 2023 - May 20, 2023 – Manila
Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys in Ancient Maps: an exhibition at the Alliance Française de Manille, 209 Nicanor Garcia, 2, Makati, featuring the “Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las Islas Filipinas”, more commonly known as the Murillo Velarde 1734 map — the oldest known map in Philippine history; and Justice Carpio’s old Philippines map collection. Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio “Tony” Carpio, whose personal advocacy was (and still is) the protection and preservation of Philippine territorial and maritime sovereignty, specifically in the West Philippine Sea, immediately saw the value of the Murillo Velarde map to counter the adverse claims of China on Philippine territory.



January 31, 2023 - May 21, 2023 - Walla Walla, Washington
Maxey Museum, on campus of Whitman College, is now showcasing an abundance of Indian maps. Mapping India exhibition takes history fanatics on a new route. You may walk by and see one map after another, thinking that they’re just the same picture with different dimensions. If you take a closer look, however, you start to notice some striking differences between the prints. Some of the maps are new, and some are old. Some are colorful, and some are sketched in black and white. Some are in English, and some are in Hindi. Each of the distinctive maps tells a different story, and the collection as a whole provides a vibrant journey through time.



March 1, 2023 - May 31, 2023 – Stanford
Cartographers face particular challenges in accurately capturing the dynamic nature of urban spaces. The ten maps in the exhibit Seeing Cities: 10 Maps Over 200 Years showcase two centuries of representational strategies for visualizing the richness of urban landscapes. Exhibit can be seen in David Rumsey Map Center, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall.



November 3, 2022 - May 2023 – Lisbon
The Door to the Pacific: A cartographic journey through the Strait of Magellan is a cartographic exhibition, in Galeria Ciências (Building C4), of the Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, about the construction of the image of the Strait of Magellan in the early modern period: a long, complex and discussed process, influenced by many and diverse factors, including the geographic complexity of the Strait of Magellan. 22 maps between 1520 and 1620 are displayed, documenting the evolution of the representation of the Strait of Magellan over these 100 years. This exhibition is part of the Making the Earth Global: Early Modern Nautical Rutters and the Construction of a Global Concept of the Earthproject , funded by the European Research Council (ERC) within the framework of the European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme.



May 5, 2023 - June 4, 2023 – Mumbai
The exhibition titled Mapped! — Surveys that left behind a legacy, will introduce viewers to a multitude of maps that not only elaborate on the journey of cartography, as a field of inquiry, but also reference periods in history. The exhibition is being organised by The Urban Heritage Committee of the Rotary Club of Bombay and The Asiatic Society of Mumbai. Featured are survey maps and the earliest mappings of the Indian Subcontinent. The activity was first started by William Lambton and was later taken up by his assistant George Everest. The exhibition can be viewed 10.30 am to 6.30 pm, all days, at Durbar Hall, The Asiatic Society of Mumbai, Fort.



June 2-11, 2023 - Cassis, France
Exhibition of old maps and plans of Cassis and Provence, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century can be seen at Salles voûtées de Cassis, Mairie, Place Baragnon.



September 23, 2022 - June 23, 2023 – Berkeley
Containing items ranging from handmade Indigenous maps to those based on works of fiction, Bancroft Library’s newest cartography exhibit brings a rich breadth of treasures for public display. The exhibit, Visualizing Place: Maps from The Bancroft Library, will be on display in the Bancroft Gallery. While the exhibit contains maps from around the world, there are many maps of the Bay Area and Mexico. One of the exhibit’s highlights is a hand-drawn 1776 watercolor map of San Francisco — one of the earliest maps of its kind.



July 3, 2022 - June 24, 2023 - Montpelier, Vermont
The Vermont Historical Society is pleased to announce that it will open a new exhibit about Vermont cartographer James Wilson, A New American Globe: Geography, Identity, and Craft in Early Vermont, at the Vermont History Museum, 109 State St. The exhibit will provide a new look at Wilson and his impact on the field of cartography in the United States. This exhibit reexamines Wilson’s life and career, with new scholarship led by the Vermont Historical Society to better understand his place in history. Along the way, the exhibit will put a particular focus on the role that maps provide in our lives, and how names hold a particular power over the locations that they signify. The exhibit will feature three of Wilson’s globes: one 16 inch terrestrial globe manufactured between 1810 and 1818 in Bradford, Vermont, and two 13-inch globes from 1831 and manufactured in Albany, New York. The exhibit additionally will feature a number of items from the Vermont Historical Society’s collection related to cartography, including surveying equipment, maps (of all types and materials), and more.



November 17, 2022 - June 30, 2023 – Portland, Maine
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education announces our latest exhibition, Industry, Wealth, and Labor: Mapping New England’s Textile Industry. Inspired by the map library’s recent acquisition of a collection of textile mill insurance plans and historic maps from the American Textile History Museum, this exhibition addresses the temporal, geographic, and demographic components of New England’s cotton textile industry from the early 19th century until the middle of the 20th century. Please enter the Glickman Family Library and proceed through the arcade to the Osher Map Library reference room and gallery entrance at 314 Forest Ave.



February 22, 2022 – July 7, 2023 – Seville
The first circumnavigation of the world, which began in 1519 and ended in 1522, is the greatest exploratory feat in history, which can be compared with more recent milestones such as the arrival on the Moon. Maps and the first circumnavigation of the world / The expedition of Magellan and Elcano shows a cartographic tour of interesting aspects of the trip: its background, preparations, development and consequences. Starting from the geographical concepts of the ancients, we will go through the unexpected discovery of the American continent, the Tordesillas treaty by which Spain and Portugal shared the world, the cartographic espionage between the two Iberian powers, the spice trade as a real objective of the expedition or the first maps of the Strait of Magellan and the Moluccas Islands, all set in Spain in the 16th century. Exhibition can be viewed in Museo Casa de la Ciencia, Av. de María Luisa.



March 2, 2023 - July 16, 2023 – Amsterdam
Open kaart [Open map] – from atlas to street map shows seven centuries of cartography in the Netherlands and takes a look into the future. The exhibition, at Allard Pierson Museum, Oude Turfmarkt 127-129, shows an enormous diversity of maps from the 15th century and shares the stories behind them. All maps, including work by Blaeu, Ortelius, Ptolemy and Bos, belong to the cartography collection of the Allard Pierson, one of the most important in Europe. A large part is on loan from the Royal Dutch Geographical Society (KNAG), which celebrates its 150th anniversary in March.



June 9, 2023 – July 28, 2023 - Blacksburg, Virginia
Visions of Blacksburg is a visual journey of Blacksburg’s history through photographs and maps at the Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation, 204 Draper Rd. SW. In addition to photos, the exhibition includes maps of Blacksburg, as well as Montgomery County beginning in 1789.



June 24, 2023 - August 8, 2023 – Portsmouth
Rare Spanish Armada maps are to be put on display for the first time in their history by the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The Armada Maps National Treasures exhibition will display ten maps which chart the defeat of the Spanish Armada in August 1588. The Armada Maps were first drawn in 1589 and are thought to be the earliest surviving representations of the campaign.



August 5-6, 2023 - New Delhi
The "Festival of Libraries 2023" includes 10 captivating exhibitions at at Pragati Maidan. One of them is a chronologically placed series of maps, some of which seem like that of a distant land. The exhibition Mapped: Great Trigonometric Survey by the Asiatic Society of Mumbai and Past Present Heritage Management has put on display a selection of maps of India, created before and after the great trigonometrical survey by the East India Company in 1802.



August 13-18, 2023 - Cape Town
The International Cartographic Association (ICA) invites ICA National and Affiliate Members to showcase their recent cartographic material at the 31st International Cartographic Conference at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.



January 13, 2023 - August 23, 2023 – Boston
The Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St., will have a new temporary exhibition. Building Blocks: Boston Stories from Urban Atlases shows small-scale stories of urban change. Visitors will discover how the atlas collections opens up a world of fascinating stories, with vignettes including the country’s first African Meeting House in the heart of Beacon Hill, landmarks of leisure like the “Derby Racer” and “Giant Safety Thriller” amusement rides in Revere, public health infrastructure on Gallops Island in the former South Bay, and many more.



Closing August 31, 2023 – La Jolla, California
The Map & Atlas Museum of La Jolla is tucked into an office building at 7825 Fay Ave, Suite LL-A. The maps are displayed on walls and in cases, arranged somewhat chronologically and by themes. There’s a crude black and white drawing of the world from 1472, a vibrant “Roads to Romance” representation of Southern California circa 1958 and hundreds of other maps from all over the world. Some were used in their day for navigation, some for display, some for dreaming. There are maps that show California as an island - a depiction of an almost mythological paradise that persists, in the public consciousness, centuries later. There is a map from 1617 that shows what is now Belgium and Holland shaped like a lion - a projection of power and national pride. The maps are a part of the Stone Map and Atlas Foundation, headed by local businessman and philanthropist Michael Stone, who has been collecting maps for 20 years. Check the website for current operating hours. For additional information contact Richard Cloward (richard(at)lajollamapmuseum.org) or Roz Gibson (roz(at)lajollamapmuseum.org) at 855-653-6277.