Maps

About the Collection

The Eran Laor Cartographic Collection is a physical and virtual collection of maps. The heart of the collection comprises antique maps, atlases and travel books dedicated to the Holy Land and as such, it is the largest of its kind in the world. The collection also includes maps and atlases of other locations. In addition, the collection includes scientific literature on the Holy Land, studies about the historical geography of the Holy Land, bible dictionaries, and copies of early bibles that feature maps. The main part of the collection consists of maps which were donated to the Library by the late Eran Laor.​​​

Read more

View the image above in detail

Jerusalem Maps on Wikipedia

The NLI and Wikimedia Israel

The National Library of Israel has released a collection of 200 high-resolution unique maps of Jerusalem in collaboration with Wikimedia Israel. This collection of antique maps, spanning from 1486 to 1947, contains a variety of styles and languages.

 

View the Jerusalem Maps Collection on Wikipedia

Partners

History of the Digitization Project

​The National Library, David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project and the Hebrew University, Department of Geography, Historic Cities Research Project created a digital collection dedicated to antique maps of Jerusalem in 2002. This project, based on the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, contained a variety of maps of Jerusalem, both real and imaginary, dating from 1486 through 1930. Each map was accompanied by detailed bibliographic data, and was presented in a variety of image formats, including the zoomable MrSid format.

A parallel joint project, Historic Cities, contains maps of historic cities throughout the world. The project was made possible by a generous grant from the Council for Higher Education in Israel - Planning & Budgeting Committee.

In 2007, the National Library and the David and Fela Shapell Family Digitization Project launched the Holy Land Maps website. This project, based on the Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, contained over 1,000 maps dating from 1462 through the early 20th century. Each map was accompanied by detailed bibliographic data, and was presented in a variety of image formats, including the zoomable MrSid format.

 

 Maps from the Holy Land Digital Collection are held by the following institutions:

The British Library

Trinity College, Cambridge

Queen's College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College Oxford

Corpus Christie College, Cambridge

The Hague, Koninklijke Bibliotheek – The National Library of the Netherlands

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

Kremsmünster, Stiftsbibliothek

Universitaetsbibliothek Leipzig

Badische Landesbibliothek, Karlsruhe

The Morgan Library and Museum

Dr. Alfred Moldovan The late

The Jewish Theological Seminary

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript library, Yale University

Bibliothèque d'agglomération St. Omer

Det Arnamagnænske Institut, Kobenhavns Universitet Amager

Uppsala University Library