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Chicago's newest exhibit at
The Field Museum is a rare exhibition featuring over 130 of the world's most unique maps and navigation tools. Organized by The Field Museum and The Newberry Library and presented by NAVTEQ,
Maps: Finding Our Place in the World examines questions everyone throughout history has once asked themselves:
Where am I?
Where do I want to go?
How do I get there?
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Ancient manuscripts and atlases from various cultures are included in the exhibit.
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I couldn't help but get a warm a fuzzy feeling upon walking into the
Maps exhibit. I knew we would be a while when I saw the first item: a huge atlas the size of my kitchen table. It was all hand-drawn and painted. It was absolutely gorgeous. We chose to partake in the digital audio tour to enhance our experience. As I turned the corner my eyes scanned the gallery and I couldn't wait to walk from one precious treasure to another. It dawned on me that maps are works of art - no matter how simple they are.
Many are familiar with the map of London's Underground, but I needed to see it in the perspective of the
Finding Our Way
gallery to truly understand why it is so unique. When placed next to an
18th century hand-painted map of Tokyo, a wood stick figure mapping the
Marshall Islands, and a segment of Portugal's coastling from 1590 the
map of the London Underground stands out in efficiency and simplicity.
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This first poster-sized map of the London Underground from 1933 was groundbreaking in its graphic simplicity.
Photo Credit: London Transport Museum, © Transport for London
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I am an avid traveler so the
Mapping the World gallery held alot of appeal for me. A gorgeous silver chronometer used by Captain Cook himself sits near a Buddhist cosmology map (with dieties). All the different maps from various cultures is almost too much to take in. They all have such a different style and there is so much detail in each piece that you don't want to miss anything. My cousin and I spent at least ten minutes looking at the intricate detail of one world map print that has little drawings of all the major world cities along the border.
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One of our favorite pieces in the exhibit is this Map of The Americas. We were fascinated with the detailed artwork surrounding the two hemispheres.
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Some of the oldest pieces of this exhibition are in the
Mapping Places gallery. A Babylonian town plan (now Iraq) carved in clay was from 1300 B.C. There are also fragments of the plan of Rome carved in marble!
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This stunning engraving of Venice by Jacobo de Barbari from 1500 set a new artistic standard for urban views.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Newberry Library
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Gallery 4 Mapping History
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This map 1524 map depicts the thriving Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, based on the eyewitness account of Hernan Cortés.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Newberry Library
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All of the maps in this exhibit can be considered pieces of art,
similar to a painting in an art museum. But unlike a traditional
painting, maps not only depict a certain time in history, they
demonstrate what MADE our history.
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John Mitchell drew this map in 1755 to reinforce British control over North America. It took a leading role at the 1782 negotiations between American and British diplomats: Britain drew in the red line, thereby marking the new American territory.
Photo Credit: Used by permission of The British Library
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Gallery 5 Visualizing Nature and Society
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With his map of central Italy, Leonardo da Vinci introduced the cartographic convention of using color to indicate changes in elevation.
Photo Credit: Royal Collection © 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
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The
Mapping Imaginary Worlds gallery will capture your heart. A giant
Land of Make Believe map shows favorite storybook characters such as Little Miss Muffet, Peter Piper and Humpty Dumpty. See original maps from famous novels such as Treasure Island, the Land of Oz and Lilliput. A map of Middle Earth drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien himself is also on display.
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Sir Thomas More’s Utopia is depicted here in this original edition of On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia (translation)
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Newberry Library
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One of the neatest things about this exhibit is that you are not only
viewing "history" - you realize that you are part of history! Looking
at the map used by Charles A. Lindbergh while flying The Spirit of St.
Louis on his flight from New York to Paris is viewing history. Tracing
the line with handwritten annotations makes it at incredibly special
part of history. But the
Living with Maps gallery demonstrates ways we use maps every day. The world's first jigsaw puzzle was a map of Europe divided into countries. Tourist maps made it possible to get around after automobiles became popular. And today we have maps on our cell phones and GPS devices.
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Find Your Place In The World is an interactive digital map presented by Accenture.
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Maps: Finding Our Place in the World will be on display at The Field Museum from now through January 27, 2008. The exhibit will then be at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore from March 16-June 8, 2008, continuing on to various locations in San Francisco and London, University Library Basel in Switzerland, Greeland National Museum and Archives in Nuuk, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Pressischer Kulturbesitz.
Tickets to
Maps include Museum admission and are priced at $19 for adults, $14 for seniors and students with ID, $9 for children 4-11. Discounts are available for Chicago residents.
To purchase tickets, call 866-FIELD-03 (866-343-5303), visit www.fieldmuseum.org, or come to the Museum’s box office. The Field Museum is located at 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, on CTA bus lines #6, #12, and #146, and close to other routes and the Metra electric and South Shore lines. An indoor parking garage is located just steps from the main entrance.
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The Field Museum offers a variety of souvenirs to remember your Maps: Finding Our Place in the World experience.
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For more information vist the exhibit website at http://www.fieldmuseum.org/maps/.
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