To learn more about non-current maps see Map
History / History of Cartography.
Meeting announcements can
be found at Cartography - Calendar of Meetings
and Events.
Click here for archive
of past exhibitions.
Indefinite – Amsterdam
The
National Maritime
Museum, Kattenburgerplein 1, exhibition Maps
brings together maps, globes and atlases by Dutch cartographers from
the National Maritime Museum's world-leading collection. This
exhibition shows how the ships found their way at sea in the Dutch
Golden Age, and how these voyages defined the way we see the world.
Using rare and early maps and globes, visitors travel to the
locations that played an important role in the Dutch history: South
Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. The spectacular wall
map of Amsterdam by Pieter Bast, dating from 1597, forms the starting
point of the exhibition.
Indefinite – Ankara
The
Museum
of Cartography, one of the meritorious museums of Ankara, serves
under the Ministry of National Defense. Located in the Cebeci
District, it is classified as a kind of Military Museum and the
museum is located exactly inside the Central
Barracks. The Museum of Cartography invites visitors to explore
Türkiye’s rich cartographic heritage, showcasing
historical maps, measurement tools and rare artifacts that highlight
the nation’s mapping journey through centuries.
Indefinite
– Boston
Becoming
Boston: Eight Moments in the Geography of a Changing City can
be seen in the Norman B.
Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public
Library, 700 Boylston St. The exhibition follows the changing spatial
forms of the place we now call Boston. Maps trace out the complicated
history of places, and we can use them to document geography in much
the same way that we can use diaries and letters to document
biography. In the eight cases of this exhibition, we follow the
changing spatial forms of the place we now call Boston—from
before the landscape carried that name all the way through the
struggles, clashes, and dreams that continue to reshape the city
today.
Indefinite – Bucharest
The
Muzeul Național
al Hărților și Cărții Vechi [National Museum
of Old Maps and Books], str.Londra nr.39 sector 1, opened to the
public in 2003 and is hosted in a beautiful villa built in the
1920's. The main collection of over 1000 items belonged to Professor
Adrian Năstase’s family and was donated to the Romanian
state. Numerous maps are displayed on the walls of this three story
villa.
Indefinite – Edinburgh
Treasures
of the National Library of Scotland
is a permanent exhibition of 13th- to 18th-century objects in the
library's collection which can be seen in George IV Bridge building.
Included are some of the first detailed maps of Scotland created by
Timothy Pont more than 400 years ago. The maps chart the geography of
16th-Century Scotland including details of tower houses and castles,
smaller buildings and settlements, mills and rivers and the extent of
woodland and physical features such as rivers and valleys and
mountain tops. They also mention landowners and other people.
Indefinite - Jacksonville, Florida
The Lewis
Ansbacher Map Collection contains some 244 antiquarian maps
of Florida and Florida cities, North and South America, and the
world. It includes historical views and plates focusing on northern
Florida. Most of these maps are on permanent display in the Morris
Ansbacher Map Room on the fourth floor of the Main
Library, 303 N. Laura Street. Additional information
813-228-0097.
Indefinite - Kozani, Greece
Kozani
in the World of Maps is on display at the Municipal
Map Library housed in the recently restored Georgios
Lassanis Mansion at the center of the city. The historic Map
Library, with its roots in 17th century, keeps a small but important
collection of maps, atlases and geography books, mainly from 18th
century, referred to the period of Greek Enlightenment. For example,
a copy of the 1797 Rigas Velestinlis "Charta" as well as
the extremely rare 1800 Anthimos Gazis world map are kept there among
other maps and atlases which were never before put on public display.
Contact info(at)kozlib.gr or 2461 50635 / 2461 50632 for additional
information.
Indefinite - Kynceľová,
Slovakia
The Slovak Map
Museum, Kynceľová 77, presents you not only the rich
past and exceptional present of cartography in Slovakia, but also the
traditional and modern methods and technologies that create maps. Its
uniqueness lies not only in the content of its exhibition, but also
in its form. It was based on the principles of the global trend of
enriching experiences for visitors through interactivity, advances in
high technology and modern principles of education. What would a
museum be like without the history of cartography and old maps? We
will look at the development of maps in the world, but of course also
in Slovakia. You will also find some truly unique maps here.
Indefinite - Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin
What is believed to be an original map of Lake
Geneva — found recently inside a historic lakefront mansion —
now offers the public a rare glimpse of the city in its earliest
origins. The map from the early 1840s is part of Geneva
Lake Museum’s new exhibit Mapping
the Past. The exhibit features about 30 maps of Lake Geneva
and the surrounding area, including the original map showing Lake
Geneva’s layout just after pioneers incorporated the new
municipality in 1836. The majority of the maps in the exhibit have
been donated by Edward Weed of the town of Linn.
Indefinite – La Rochelle, France
The Musée
du Nouveau Monde [Museum of the New World], 10 Rue Fleuriau, is
housed in an eighteenth century mansion, the hotel Fleuriau, named
after the family who lived there from 1772 to 1974. The Museum
features numerous old maps of the Americas as well as sculptures,
paintings, drawings, furniture and decorative objects. These objects
are evidence of the triangular trade and slavery with the Americas,
through which the city of La Rochelle, like others, amassed
considerable wealth. Part of the museum is devoted to the French
conquest of the New World, especially in Canada, while evoking the
Old West and Native Americans.
Indefinite – Mexico City
Museo
Nacional de la Cartografia, at Avenida Observatorio No. 94,
corner of Periférico Tacubaya, D.F., C.P. 11870, Delegación
Miguel Hidalgo, features exhibits about the general history of
mapping of Mexico. Codices, atlases, navigational charts, topographic
plans, and instruments used to make geodesic and topographical
measurements are on display.
Indefinite - Mussoorie, India
The
newly inaugurated George
Everest Cartography Museum, located in the George
Everest House which was owned by Everest from 1832 to 1843, is a
one-of-a-kind institution dedicated to preserving the rich history of
cartography, surveying, and mountaineering. The museum boasts an
impressive collection of exhibits showcasing the Great Trigonometric
Arc Survey initiated by Everest himself. Visitors can also explore
the extensive survey records of various Himalayan peaks undertaken by
Indian mountaineers. The museum is not only a treasure trove of
historical documents but also an educational resource. Information
about the diverse instruments used in these groundbreaking surveys is
thoughtfully presented, allowing visitors to delve into the methods
employed by these pioneers.
Indefinite - Palma, Majorca
Bartolomé March
Servera (1917-1998) became an important art collector and
bibliophile. The Fundación
Bartolomé March established a museum, where the family
residence in Palma was located for decades, to display his
collection. The Palau March, located at Carrer del Palau Reial, 18,
displays an outstanding collection of art and sculpture. Another of
the numerous collections that Bartolomé March brought together
was that of Majorcan Cartography. In Majorca, between the 14th
and 15th Century, an important set of navigation charts signed by
local artists was drawn up. The great majority of these charts left
the island and the most famous of them ended up in public libraries
or in private hands. Bringing together this collection, considered to
be one of the best in the world, was an arduous task. The exhibit
displayed here, with excellent documentation, brings together a very
interesting collection both for its technical perfection and its
exquisite ornamental effect. Included are Portolan charts by Jacobus
Russus (1535), Mateo Prunés (1561), Jaume Olives (1564 and
1571), Joan Oliva (1620), and Miquel Prunés (1640).
Indefinite - Sint-Niklaas, Belgium
The Mercator
Museum, Zamanstraat 49, has been closed since April 3, 2023 for
renovation. The Museum plans to welcome you again in December 2025 in
a larger and up-to-date new Museum. The Museum will display a
chronological story of cartography, from ancient times to today. In
this story, the figure and work of Gerard De Cremer (Rupelmonde 1512
- 1594 Duisburg) - aka Gerard Mercator - is placed in the spotlight.
His rare earth globe (1541) and celestial globe (1551), recently
included in the Flemish masterpieces list, remain the highlights of
the museum. The rich collection of atlases, including his first
Ptolemy edition 1584, shines in the showcases. The story is
complemented by a carefully chosen selection of maps and atlases from
the 17th to the early 20th century.
Indefinite –
Sydney
Visitors to the State
Library of New South Wales can explore five centuries of
cartography from around the world in one place in the Map
Rooms. Across two beautiful rooms visitors will find some of the
most important maps, globes and navigation instruments from the
Library's maps collection - arguably the most significant in
Australia. One of the major highlights is a chart of the
Indian Ocean and Asia — one of only four copies in the world —
printed on vellum by Jacob Colom in 1633. Other highlights
include: an extremely rare 1515 map by Albrecht Dürer and
Johannes Stabius depicting the world as a sphere; a beautiful
hand-coloured copy of the iconic nineteen counties (the legal
boundaries of the colony up to that date) map produced by Sir Thomas
Mitchell in 1834; the 1940 Tindale map showing the distribution
of Aboriginal nations in NSW; and a selection of
rare early maps showing the gradual colonisation and expansion of
Sydney from a penal settlement to a bustling metropolis. The Map
Rooms are located on the first floor of the Mitchell Building, 1
Shakespeare Place, open every day.
Indefinite - Tampa, Florida
The
Touchton
Map Library and Florida Center for Cartographic Education, at The
Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Old Water Street, is home to more
than 8,000 maps, charts and other documents dating back from the
early European exploration of North America more than 500 years ago
up through the early 21st century. A rotating exhibition of selected
maps from the collection can be viewed in the Saunders Foundation
Gallery.
Indefinite - Vienna
The Globe
Museum of the Austrian National Library, Palais Mollard,
Herrengasse 9, is the world's only institution devoted to the study
of globes and related instruments like armillary spheres and
planetariums. On display in eight rooms are many of the more than 460
globes owned by the Museum. Additionally there is a bilingual (German
and English) multimedia presentation about globe history, globe
making, and the use of globes. Additional information from
globen(at)onb.ac.at or Tel.: (+43 1) 534 10-710 or Fax: (+43 1) 534
10-319.
Indefinite – Washington
In 2011, Albert H. Small
donated to George Washington
University Museum, 701 21st Street NW, his unrivaled collection
of 1,000 maps and prints, rare letters, photographs, and drawings
that document the history of Washington, DC. A
Collector’s Vision: Creating the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana
Collection presents highlights of the Albert H. Small
Washingtoniana Collection, including Mr. Small's first acquisition
and other items that explore what motivates individuals to collect.
September 4, 2021 –
Indefinite - Eastsound, Washington
How do you get to Orcas
Island? How did the early explorers find their way before they even
knew what was there to be found? The Orcas
Island Historical Society’s new exhibition Mapping
Orcas: The Way Home features an extraordinary collection of
maps, most of which were assembled, restored, and reproduced by
photographer Peter C. Fisher of Orcas Island. Also featured in the
museum are exquisite, hand-drawn, original maps by the late Jean
Putnam. Maps include the township section map (1888-1895) by
J.J.Gilbert, a variety of geological and navigational charts, and a
number of maps specially created for the “edification” of
tourists and amusement of locals. Also exhibited is a reproduction of
a really old map, edited by three explorers in the 18th century, that
certainly verifies Juan de Fuca’s 16th-century description of
the islands he saw on his voyage to the Northwestern part of the
largely unknown continent. Two mid-nineteenth-century maps by John
Wilkes and his expedition show great leaps in the inaccuracy of
surveying and navigational methods. The Museum is open Tuesday thru
Saturday from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. It’s that cluster of log
cabins on North Beach Road, right beside the Village Green. Admission
is by donation.
March 9, 2024 - January 25, 2026
– Edinburgh
Between 1939 and 1945, more than 36 million
photographs and 342 million maps were produced by the British Armed
Forces. These precious tools were vital in directing and devising
escape plans for troops during the Second World War, but over the
years their purpose has changed, and now they are military mementos
and memories. To treasure the personal stories behind these WW2 maps,
the National War Museum in
Edinburgh Castle is putting a selection of them on display. Maps:
Memories of the Second World War explores the purpose of a
map as much more than just a physical or a functional object and
reveals the stories of the people who kept these maps as a memory of
a personal journey.
June 14, 2024 - December 2025 –
Washington
The new
Library of Congress exhibition Collecting
Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress, which is
part of the David
M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery on the on the second-floor
mezzanine of the Thomas Jefferson Building, is open to the public.
Over 100 objects in many formats from divisions all over the Library
of Congress are integrated and featured in this exhibition. Some fine
cartographic treasures are displayed as mementos of how different
cultures saw the world at different points in time.
June 29, 2024 - June 26, 2026 -
Cambridge Massachusetts
The idea of sea monsters has
captivated us for centuries. Could there really be something scary
lurking in the dark depths? Folklore and popular culture say yes, yet
science urges us to dive a little deeper. Sea
Monsters: Wonders of Nature and Imagination is a new
exhibition at the Harvard
Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street. The exhibition
features historical illustrations of these fabled monsters and
detailed ancient mariners’ maps. Ancient maps held important
cultural knowledge, often revealed through depictions of mythological
creatures that served as warnings of dangerous and uncharted waters.
July 2024 – August 2025 -
Monterey, California
Uruguay-born artist Jo Mora spent his
career bringing the American West to life. Now, the Monterey
History and Art Association at Stanton Center, 5 Custom House
Plaza, is honoring his legacy with a new exhibition. Now more than 75
years after Mora’s death in 1947, the exhibition, Jo
Mora: Cartographer, celebrates the unique work Mora may be
best known for: his iconic “cartes.” Twenty-two of Mora’s
cartes are the focus of the exhibition.
September 13, 2024 – August
2025 – Boulder, Colorado
Topophilia,
which means “love of place”, is a term that explores the
bond between people and place. It's also the topic and title of a new
exhibition at the Earth
Sciences & Map Library, University of colorado Boulder. The
exhibition Topophilia
invites viewers to
consider their own relationships to place through the prints of
Johanna Mueller, ceramic installations by Rita Vali, and a collection
of gorgeous maps from the University Libraries co-curated by
Geological Sciences/Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics PhD
candidate Sam Cartwright and Map Curator Naomi Heiser.
October 21, 2024 - June 7, 2025 –
Richmond
A new exhibition at the Library
of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, will tell the story of 10
years, five governors, two principal surveyors and one lead engraver
— the time frame and team needed to create one of the first
official state maps in the nation in the early 1800s. The exhibition
Mapping
the Commonwealth, 1816–1826 will present examples from
40 manuscript maps that highlight the painstaking task of creating
Virginia’s first official state map. Correspondence and other
documents related to the publication of the map, as well as
copperplates — printing plates used for engraving — will
also be displayed in the exhibition.
December 14, 2024 - January 11,
2026 - Kansas City
The story of Mapping
the Heavens: Art, Astronomy, and Exchange between the Islamic Lands
and Europe begins in the Islamic World during the Early
Middle Ages (c. 500s – 1200s CE), where Muslim scientists
preserved and advanced the study of astronomy. Access to these
scientific texts– many collected and translated in Spain in the
1200s and widely disseminated in books after the invention of the
printing press in the 1400s–fueled a revolution of new
discoveries and created a shared astronomical knowledge across
Europe. The works presented in this exhibition introduce the
advancement of astronomy as a multi-cultural and multi-faith dialogue
between scholars and scientists, showcasing the beauty and importance
of the books, instruments, and images that communicated these
discoveries. It can be viewed in Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St.
February 15, 2025 - June 22, 2025
- Bath, England
The year kicks off with a special exhibition
at American Museum &
Gardens. Myths
and Memories: Renaissance Maps is the first major display of
the American Museum’s world-renowned collection in over a
decade. More than 40 maps and objects will be on display, dating from
the 15th to the 17th century, when European explorers were mapping
out trade routes and first ‘discovering’ other parts of
the world, including what we now know as America.
February 2025 - August 2025 -
Boulder, Colorado
The new Topophilia
exhibition at the Earth
Sciences & Map Library, University of Colorado Boulder, is a
meditation on humans’ relationship to place. The exhibition
invites viewers to consider their own relationships to place through
the prints of Johanna Mueller, ceramic installations by Rita Vali,
and a collection of gorgeous maps from the University Libraries
co-curated by Geological Sciences/Laboratory for Atmospheric and
Space Physics PhD candidate Sam Cartwright and Map Curator Naomi
Heiser. The maps in this exhibition highlight the opportunities and
limitations of mapping the earth’s (and other planetary)
surfaces.
March 1-31, 2025 - Caltanissetta,
Italy
The exhibition entitled Geohistory
of the Nisseno subsoil: narration of the mines through cartography
will explore the “Geohistory of the Nisseno subsoil: narration
of the mines through cartography”. It is a unique opportunity
for discover, through maps and finds, the history of the Nisseno
subsoil and its mining heritage. Exhibition can be seen in Palazzo
Moncada, Largo Barile, 93100 Caltanissetta CL.
March 2, 2025 - May 25, 2025-
Tuxedo Park, New York
The Tuxedo
Historical Society, 7 Hospital Rd., has announced the opening of
a new exhibit, Tuxedo
on the Map, now open Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Over two
centuries of local maps are on display, from George Washington’s
Continental Road and the Cheesecock patent lands, right up to the
latest proposed beautification plans for Tuxedo. See how the town,
village and hamlet have changed with maps from successive years
showing individual properties and the owners’ names with some
houses originally built as stables, ice houses, and fish hatcheries.
March 6, 2025 - May 17, 2025 -
New York
On view in the Grolier Club’s second floor
gallery is Wish
You Were Here: Guidebooks, Viewbooks, Photobooks, and Maps of New
York City, 1807-1940. The exhibition features guidebooks,
viewbooks, photobooks, maps, and pamphlets curated by Grolier Club
member Mark D. Tomasko from his collection. Maps from Tomasko’s
collection on display include Viele’s "Topographical map
of the city of New York" showing original water courses and made
land (1865), one of very few 19th-century maps of the City that is
still used today, as construction contractors reference it for
underground streams, a crucial piece of information for building
foundations in Manhattan.
March 15, 2025 - June 17, 2025 -
Littlehampton, United Kingdom
Explore the changing landscape
of Littlehampton in this fascinating exhibition, Littlehampton
Mapped Out, in the Littlehampton
Museum’s Butterworth Gallery.
March 15, 2025 - August 3, 2025 –
Norwich
For the first time in its 40 year history, The
Sunderland Collection, a private collection of rare antique
cartography, is loaning items to a public institution. The collection
is lending eight atlases and maps to the Sainsbury
Centre, a public art museum in Norwich, UK which is affiliated
with the University of East Anglia. A
World of Water is part of "Can the Seas Survive Us?",
a series of Sainsbury Centre exhibitions.
March 24, 2025 - September 28,
2025 – London
How has the world been mapped since the
advent of the printed book in the late 15th century? In this
exhibition, From
streets to the stars: 500 years of maps, we invite you to
explore a range of maps from the past 500 years, from street maps of
London to maps of the constellations. Exhibition is in Maughan
Library, King's College London, The Weston Room.
April 1, 2025 - August 1, 2025 -
Hamilton, Ontario
McMaster University Libraries is partnering
with the McMaster Museum of Art to host an exhibition that will
feature rare books, maps, and antiquities related to the history of
the Mediterranean. The Great
Sea: Mediterranean Imaginaries from Antiquity to Modernity,
open at the McMaster Museum of
Art, 1280 Main St W, will feature materials from the university
libraries’ William Ready Division of Archives and Research
Collections, its Lloyd Reeds Map Collection, and the museum’s
own collection of related antiquities.
April 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025
- Maspeth, New York
The Newtown
Historical Society, in collaboration with Council
Member Robert Holden, has unveiled its latest exhibit, Historic
Maps of Newtown. It is now open to the public at Holden’s
district office, located at 58-38 69 St., 2nd Floor. The exhibit is
available for viewing during regular business hours. The exhibit
combines materials from both Holden’s personal collection and
that of the Newtown Historical Society.
April 2, 2025 - September 2025 –
Stanford
Spheres
of Influence: Projecting Power and Fear Onto the Globe,
an exhibition curated by California Map Society and David Rumsey Map
Center Student Exhibition Competition winner Champ Turner, can be
viewed at at David
Rumsey Map Center, 557 Escondido Mall. The exhibit traces the use
of the global view map—a type of map that shows the Earth's
curved surface as if seen from space—over time, from its
emergence in the 1930s to today. The exhibition invites you to
examine how cartographers, publications, and governments have used
the global view to inform, persuade and subtly shape our sense of
place in the world.
April 3, 2025 - March 2026 –
Boston
The Leventhal
Map & Education Center will mark the 250th anniversary of the
start of the Revolutionary War with a new exhibition, Terrains
of Independence, in our gallery at the Central Library in
Copley Square. Terrains of Independence poses a central
geographical question: what was it about Boston and Massachusetts in
the last half of the eighteenth century that made the region such a
tinderbox for Revolutionary activity?
April 8, 2025 – November 2,
2025 - Waudrez, Belgium
The small exhibition Tous
les chemins mènent à Vodgoriacum is devoted to
the representation of Gaul and of Roman roads through ancient maps.
It is organised by the Gallo-Roman
Museum of Waudrez, located on the ancient road leading from Bavay
to Cologne.
May 1-31, 2025 –
Barcelona
During the month of May, the General
Map Library is exhibiting a selection from its special collection
Maps
of the Spanish Civil War in the display cases of the
Newspaper archive of the Humanities Library. The war in maps and maps
of the war are the two aspects you will find.
May 2025 - June 30, 2025 -
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Renaissance
Treasures of the Harvard Map Collection can be seen in Pusey
Library, Corridor Gallery, Harvard
Map Collection. This exhibition presents some highlights of the
1,200 maps and 64 atlases from the European Renaissance in the
Harvard Map Collection. Nearly a quarter of these were part of the
1818 purchase of the collection of Professor Christoph Daniel Ebeling
(1741-1817) that launched the Harvard Map Collection.
May 2, 2025 - Fall 2025 –
Philadelphia
The Chestnut
Hill Conservancy’s (8708 Germantown Ave.) new exhibition,
Mapping the Wissahickon: From the Colonial Era to an Evolving
Watershed, explores the changing landscape of the Wissahickon
Valley and ongoing preservation efforts to shape its future. Despite
its title, Mapping the Wissahickon presents more than just
maps. Property plans and guidebooks are a few of the other objects on
display.
May 7, 2025 - August 2025 –
Portland, Maine
The Osher Map
Library, 314 Forest Avenue, has an exhibit World’s Fair
Show. The exhibit will include maps of the fairs and is done in
collaboration with University of Southern Maine class Anthropology
320.
October 9, 2025 – February
14, 2026 – Chicago
Mapping
Outside the Lines can be seen at The
Newberry, 60 West Walton Street. Lines are the foundation of the
visual language of maps. For centuries, mapmakers have experimented
with the placement, density, and purpose of lines like these to make
maps seem simple and objective. This exhibition, curated by David
Weimer (Robert A. Holland Curator of Maps and Director of the Hermon
Dunlap Smith Center for the History of Cartography) follows lines on
maps to their extremes.
October 10, 2025 - January 18,
2026 – London
The
British Library, 96 Euston Rd,
exhibition Secret Maps will focus on the relationship
between mapping and secrecy in a global context between the 9th and
21st centuries. On display will be a secret Ordnance Survey map,
copies of which were later destroyed, produced ahead of the General
Strike of 1926 illustrating potential weak spots in the case of civil
unrest. Maps used by governments in international conflicts will also
feature, including a map of part of the Normandy coast produced in
1944 in the weeks leading up to D-Day. On the once top secret
invasion plan can be seen detailed information about German defences,
gathered from intelligence sources including low-level flying
missions, special services agents and the French resistance.