Magnificient Maps!

Maps are rarely just about geography and have been used to make statements about their owners power, taste and influence for centuries. Maps have been used to decorate interiors since Roman times when elaborate maps and city plans were laid in mosaic tiles and etched in stone.

Maps were used to great effect in palace galleries to demonstrate the rulers wealth and power and a particularly fine example of this is the Galerie delle Carte Geografiche at the Vatican Palace, Rome where forty maps showing the lands belonging to the Catholic Church and Italy's important cities were frescoed between 1580 and 1585, shown below.

By the 19th century it was common to frame and display maps as decorative symbols in both the domestic and commercial interior. Merchant houses often displayed maps of all types, shapes and sizes to show their trading exploits, loyalties and pride of the homeland or estate.

The trend of displaying maps diminished significantly in the early 20th century however their beauty and flexibility can make a valuable and unique addition to any interior today.


The colourful world map on the wall of this study is a decorative and educational way to brighten up this space.


A quick, easy and relatively cheap method of adding visual interest to this contemporary space is to use a world map decal sticker.

It is easy to introduce the beauty of maps into your interior with these British Isles cushions from Reclaimed Objects



Or this London Tube Map shower curtain would bring a contemporary twist in bathrooms of most styles





Let Transformations bring creative ways to introduce maps into your interior whatever the style or period www.transformationsid.co.uk