I have a love for old maps, they give us a unique insight into the history and evolution of our cities. This project hopes to make old maps available for the enjoyment and education of all.

The old maps project came about when my grandmother was clearing out her garage, after the death of my grandfather. Amongst the treasure trove of things my grandfather collected over the years was a collection of old maps of Paris.

I wanted to share these maps online but after many failed attempts at trying to digitise the maps and on the verge of giving up, I discovered that many of them had already been digitised and submitted to Wiki commons, downloadable but not easily viewable online.

As my personal project, I decided to set out and make these maps, along with any that I had, more accessible and easier to enjoy online.

After some Google Maps hacking and a bit of programming magic I created oldmapsofparis.com which brought together 25 old maps of Paris dating from c360 AD to 1937.

I want to thank all the organisations and individuals that have added these old maps to Wiki Commons and shared them into the public domain, in particular Geographicus who have shared the majority of these maps. If you are interesting in purchasing any of the original maps the Geographicus are the people to speak to.