Earlier this afternoon, my curiosity was caught by this words at the entrance of the Brunei Gallery:
In fact, this inviting title has been there for more than one month now, and I honestly have no idea why I haven’t noticed it before… Nevertheless, since I finally did, I entered the exhibition space, where I found myself happily alone and in the most beautiful silence.
The exhibition, as the title says, deals with maps, or to be more precise, ancient maps of Persia. The pieces displayed were gifted to SOAS in 2013 by Dr Cyrus Ala’i. The collection includes more than 250 maps, of which only a few were selected for the present show, some of them being displayed together for the first time. (I’m always rather enthusiastic about this kind of happenings.)
The range of maps varies from the earliest editions of Ptolemy (Early Renaissance) to 1925, and they are divided by region of creation: maps from Italy, France, the Low Countries, Germany, and last but not least (never!) Great Britain. There are not only topographic maps, but also urban plans and historical maps. Visitors will also surely appreciate the display of printings from the Illustrated London News (19th c.). It is very interesting to see, with the progression of time, the advancement of technologies and tools that permitted to create maps more and more similar to the ones we are used to see nowadays. At first, cartography was a very difficult task, not only because of the lack of technology, but also because of the political situation. Persia (or Iran, as it is called today) has always been an important communication node between Europe and Asia. Thereby, as usual, European countries fought to get the primacy in the diplomatic relationships with the Shah.
The show has a progressive flow, so that it starts with the earliest examples of mapmaking in Italy, 1477. While at first maps were made after a meticulous field research in Persia, with the passing of time the production turned into a basic “copy and paste”: a reproduction of maps made elsewhere. I found it very funny that the publisher Paolo Pertini from Neaples, for example, in 1717 simply acquired a map previously made in Modena, operated some minor changes to it, cancelled the names of the actual mapmakers and put his name in the title cartouche instead! This of course in a time where copyright was still to come…
Some other cartographers took things more seriously. The map on the left was d’avant-garde at the time of its publication (1753) because it contained the latest information available – in particular, the name of Teheran. (I apologise for the foul picture, but you can trust me on this, since I used the maginficent loupe provided.)
The best feature is, in my opinion, this fantastic map of Teheran, litographed in 1857 by August Krziz, an Austrian artillery officer and teacher, with the help of two Muslim students. The cration of this map must have been a crazy enterprise, because of the city’s wild developement, which made it difficult to try and sketch its structure. Moreover, the Austrian teacher could not scout the city in person because the residential areas were interdicted to stangers and, most of all, non-Muslims. To add more pain, the students who helped him had to face the hostility of the inhabitants, who didn’t like them to use any instruments to make measurements: They finally had to use their footsteps, and one can imagine the accuracy of the result!
Despite the utilitarian aim of these maps, practically all of them combine scientific precision and aesthetic qualities. Unfortunately, the pictures I took do not give these qualities any justice, so the best thing one reader can do is to go and see the exhibition him or herself – it’s free and won’t take much time to visit. You still have one month (it will close on March, 21st 2015)!
Useful links:
Official exhibition page: http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/maps-of-persia/
Brunei Gallery: http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/
Diotima in the Gallery 