Directories of city maps of regional metropolises

In addition to written sources and urban views, historical city and cadastral maps are primarily the most significant aid to research into urban history. Work on the academic evaluation of city maps as a method of research into urban history began in the 1930s, whilst older research used city maps more for illustrating knowledge obtained through documents. Only in city maps are the individual phases of urban development reflected in the arrangement of streets, squares and houses and in the choice of locations for public buildings. They provide information on the structure of the town, the arrangement of individual quarters and their plot structure and - at an appropriate scale - the topographical position of the town within its locality and district. Using chronologically-recorded city maps from the holdings of its collections, which are frequently "hidden" in books or map series and thus generally not listed, the Herder Institute wants to support research into the following regional metropolises of East Central Europe.

The directories of city maps until 1945 are available in PDF format.

For searching for more recent publications please use the OPAC of the Institute's library.