Walters Museum Hosts Maps

What makes maps so hypnotic? Is it the world of possibilities they offer as they take us on vicarious journeys? Perhaps their connection to a moment in history or their sometimes dazzling beauty?

Whatever your own connection to maps, you will discover unexpected new dimensions of these remarkable objects in /Maps: Finding Our Place in the World/, on view at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Md., March 16–June 8, 2008. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see over 100 of the world’s greatest maps: maps from ancient Rome and Babylonia; ground-breaking maps by Leonardo da Vinci and Mercator; maps loaned from great libraries of the world including that of Queen Elizabeth II housed in Windsor Castle and the Library of Congress.

You will see not only the map that drew the first boundaries around a new American nation and the oldest road map of Britain but also maps that scarcely look like maps at all—sculptural forms carved in wood and landscapes fired on ceramic vessels. You will see maps made by dreamers like J.R.R. Tolkien and by visionaries like the Internet pioneers. You will learn how early maps were made and discover how map-making has changed over centuries.

“This will be the most ambitious North American tour devoted to maps since an extraordinary show mounted in Baltimore over 50 years ago,” said Walters Director Gary Vikan. “We are so pleased to have maps drawn from cultures and collections from around the globe.”

Maps: Finding Our Place in the World is organized by The Field Museum and The Newberry Library. Presented by NAVTEQ. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition at the Walters Art Museum is made possible by the generosity of an anonymous donor. -- www.thewalters.org

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