The Beauty of Maps

201030m

Documentary series looking at maps in incredible detail to highlight their artistic attributions and reveal the stories that they tell.

Seasons

4 Episodes • Premiered 2010

Still image for The Beauty of Maps season 1 episode 1: Medieval Maps - Mapping the Medieval Mind

1. Medieval Maps - Mapping the Medieval Mind

The story of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, the largest intact medieval wall map in the world

Still image for The Beauty of Maps season 1 episode 2: London: City Maps - Order Out of Chaos

2. London: City Maps - Order Out of Chaos

Three visions of London the 1682 Morgan Map, a1746 map and a contempory image

Still image for The Beauty of Maps season 1 episode 3: Atlas Maps - Thinking Big

3. Atlas Maps - Thinking Big

Paul Barber of the British Library discusses the golden age of Dutch cartography and examines the importance of atlases to the commercial endeavours of the 17th century. As maps became a means of expressing power, wealth and control, they became increasingly elaborate and artistic - and the documentary visits the world's largest atlas, a 24-volume example covering just the Netherlands, and the Klencke Atlas, made for Charles II's restoration in 1660.

Still image for The Beauty of Maps season 1 episode 4: Cartoon Maps - Politics and Satire

4. Cartoon Maps - Politics and Satire

The series concludes by delving into the world of satyrical maps

Cast

Photo of Denis Lawson

Denis Lawson

Narrator (Voice)

Reviews

No reviews available yet.