Maps of Cities
The first known maps of a city are from Mesopotamia, the oldest from about 700 BC. The earliest example of a city depicted in panoramic style is the Madeba map of Jerusalem, c. 600 A.D. This also happens to be the earliest example of a map that has East at the top instead of North. While there is some controversy as to why this is so, this orientation remained popular for the next thousand years. Form the seventh to the eleventh centuries, there were very few city maps. But around 1100 A.D. , "Situs Hierusalem" was created. It had a circular form and the streets were laid out in a pattern. The map has become more schematic that representational. The Bondelmonti map of Constantinople (1440) shows the return of perspective and an increase in representation. The details of the buildings are carefully drawn. But it really wasn't until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that perspective maps became what could be called accurate. These maps were quite popular. The most prolific and popular makers of this style of city maps were George Braun and Francis Hogenberg, who created the "Civitates Orbis Terrarum"- an atlas of maps of many different cities (Fead p.443).
After this period of wonderful city maps shown in perspective, there began a trend to more of an aerial view with perspective plans being shown mostly in the borders. One also began to see insets of cities on maps of larger areas. With the improvement of cartographic techniques and a need for military maps, the continued trend of topographical maps strengthened. Mapmaking at this point was increasingly moving more to science and away from "art." Panoramic maps became popular again in the late 1800s and early 1900s, in America. These were significantly more accurate than the Renaissance city maps. There is a great deal more information about the development of city maps and the categories of morphological and the functional ground plans, neither of which will I deal with in this unit. Contemporary maps of cities include any number of things including power lines, water and gas lines, public transportation, sewers, schools, churches, traffic, city demographics, racial, linguistic and economical levels, just to name a few (Fead p.441).
European Renaissance Panoramic Maps
These became popular in Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and depicted major cities across Europe in panoramic views. Three of the major artists who created these were Mathias Merian, George Braun and Franz Hogenberg. These maps were most often found in atlases and geographical books. The maps used a perspective that was done from a low, oblique angle.
George Braun and Franz Hogenberg worked together to create the "Civitates Orbits Terrarium", an atlas of over 500 views of European cities. It was published in six volumes from 1572 to 1618. George Braun was the publisher and Franz Hogenberg was the engraver of the first 4 volumes. The last two volumes were prepared by Simon van den Neuwel (www.artelino.com/articles/civitates_orbis_terrarum.asp). In many of the maps in Civitates Orbis Terrarum, human figures are placed in the immediate foreground. Often two, a man and a woman, they are depicted wearing traditional outfits native to the city. (By adding these figures, the map was protected from being seen by Turks (practitioners of Islam) since they were forbidden from looking at pictures of humans. Thus any military advantages that these city maps might provide were protected. Because of the addition of the figures wearing traditional costumes and because of Braun added descriptions of the history and commerce of each town, the Civitates provides a wonderful historic resources into 16th century. (www.humanics-es.com/maps-culture.htm)
Mathias Merian came from a German publishing family in the 17th century. When his father died, Merian became the head of the family publishing house. He led the house to becoming one of the most important in Europe, while doing most of the engravings himself (at least until 1645 when he began to rely more heavily on assistants). (www.aradersf.com/merianfrance.htm) His daughter, Maria Sybillia Merian, became famous in her own right as an artist who specialized in botanical prints. She led a remarkable life and is worthy of her own unit of study.
Victorian American Panoramic Maps
As time allows, we will also explore the Panoramic maps created during the Victorian era in the United States. The authoritative website on panoramic maps of America is part of the Library of Congress, which houses over 1,500 panoramic maps. (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/pmhtml/panhome.html) The following information is adapted from that website. Panoramic maps are also known as bird's eye view maps. "Panoramic maps are nonphotographic representations of cities portrayed as if viewed from above at an oblique angle." Although not generally drawn to scale, they show street patterns, individual buildings, and major landscape features in perspective. In order to create these panoramic maps, a great deal of painstaking labor went into each one. For each city, a frame or projection was developed, showing the pattern of streets in perspective. The artist would the literally walk each street, drawing everything: buildings, plants, parks etc. and then turn these drawings and the projection of the streets into an accurate landscape that would appear as though it was being seen from an elevation of two to three thousand feet. The difference between the American Victorian panoramic maps and the Renaissance city panoramic maps is that the American versions are more accurate and drawn as if from a higher oblique angle. Also they depicted both small and large towns and cities where the European ones showed only major political and commercial cities. During the Victorian era, panoramic mapping is unique to America and it intimately connected to civic pride and was often used as advertisements both to potential residents as well as potential tourists.
These panoramic maps gained popularity with the development of railroads which themselves encouraged travel. Between 1825 and 1875, thousands of panoramic maps were created. It was a matter of civic pride to have a map created of your city. Sometimes artistic license actually became very deceiving when depicting tiny, poor town as thriving, bustling towns. They would also show planned development and were used by real estate agents and chambers of commerce to advertise to potential buyers. There were five main artists who are noted for their panoramic maps: Oakley H. Bailey, Lucien R. Burleigh, Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler, Albert Ruger, and Henry Wellge. (The Library of Congress Panoramic Maps website)
There are still panoramic maps being made and used today. Often maps designed for tourists employ this technique. An interesting website that shows contemporary panoramic maps is www.birkey.com/portfolio.asp?cat_id=25
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