Maps

The most well-known examples of Istanbul maps from the beginning of the 20th century are the "Istanbul Insurance Maps" drawn by Charles Edward Goad in 1904-1906, the “Blueprints” (Alman Mavileri) that were produced in 1913-1914 to give direction to the Istanbul urban plan, and the 15-sheet map drawn as a city guide by Necip Bey in 1918.

After 1920, the maps by Jacques Pervititch dated between 1922 and 1945, which can be considered as a continuation of the Goad maps, and the Suat Nirven maps dated between 1947 and 1950 carried the series of Istanbul maps to the 1950s as a "trilogy". Apart from this “trilogy”, the maps drawn by historian Osman Nuri Ergin for the city guides prepared by the Istanbul Municipality in the 1930s are also deemed as significant pieces that contributed to the mapping of Istanbul.

The Istanbul maps in the Silahtarağa Archive collection include the new “Blueprints” known as the Alman Mavileri starting in 1913 and 7,900-piece Istanbul sheets covering the period after 1950, which are the continuation of the already mentioned examples.

A significant part of the "Istanbul Maps" collection, which will offer a new perspective on the transformation of Istanbul as it will enlighten an important part of Istanbul’s journey as an ever-changing city considering its rapid urbanization, is made accessible to researchers at the Silahtarağa Archive and is coming to light for the first time on top of its known examples.

Istanbul Sheets are digitized in collaboration with Istanbul Bilgi University, Paribu and Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).