Historical Map: Pocket Book Paris Métro Map, 1961
Altogether rather lovely. Source: Rumbling Jessie/Flickr
All posts tagged: Europe
TubeTable
If you’ve got a spare 1500 quid lying around, you could pick up this sweet London Tube coffee table by artist Alex Hammond for Christmas. Limited edition of 50. See also: MetroTable, a Moscow Metro-themed coffee table. Source: Alex’s website – link no longer active
Photo: Orientation – Barcelona
I love this photo of a giant backlit system map in Barcelona. Source: zsrepasy/Flickr
Unofficial Map/Art: Moscow “Underround”
Definitely more a piece of art using the Moscow Metro as inspiration than an actual usable map, but still noteworthy. Taking the spoke and hub nature of the Metro completely literally, the work shows the stations along each line in the form of concentric rings: simple, but graphically effective. I have no doubt that a seasoned Muscovite Metro commuter would be able to locate the stations they use quite easily. Source: aircoooled karma/Flickr
Fantasy Map: Tops Pizza Delivery Map for Tunbridge Wells, England
Just when I thought I’d seen every possible variation on things designed “in the style of a subway/tube map”, along comes something to prove me completely wrong. This isn’t the latest Metro system – it’s a pizza delivery map. Have we been there? I believe I stopped in Tunbridge Wells very briefly to get some photos developed and have some lunch on my way from Hastings to London, all the way back in 1997. What […]
Historical Map: 1949 London Underground Quad Royal Poster
This photo, shared by Flickr user IsarSteve, shows an absolutely amazing discovery. Construction work at the Knightsbridge Underground station in 1996 uncovered this stunning 1949 quad royal* poster of the Tube map. It looks as if the workers know they’ve found something wonderful as well, judging by the yellow and black warning tape surrounding the frame. For many, the 1949 tube map is the apotheosis of the Beck style, with his ruthless quest for simplification […]
Historical Map: Moscow Metro, 1980
Here’s a beautiful map of the Moscow Metro from 1980 that’s unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. I don’t think it’s an official map, as it looks quite different to other Moscow maps of the same vintage. The archive I found the map in also lists it as “Source Unknown”. It appears to have been printed on the flyleaf of a pocket-sized book, bound to the book’s front cover on the left half, with the […]
Photo – Historical Map: Paris Métro Ligne 12 Strip Map
Here’s a beautiful old strip map of the Paris Métro’s Ligne 12, which runs from Mairie d’Issy to Porte de la Chapelle. This map is located in one of the few remaining old Sprague-Thomson cars, once the workhorse of the Métro. The fact that Rennes station is crossed out dates the map from between World War II, when it was closed, and September 1968, when it was (finally) reopened. Judging by the general aesthetics and […]
Photo: Map on the Train Ceiling, Berlin
Well, I guess this is one solution to the problem of having to look awkwardly over the shoulder of people sitting in front of the map on the train… Source: varlamov/Flickr
Official Map: Zentralbahn, Switzerland
Here’s another unusual transit map — this one for the narrow-gauge, rack-assisted Zentralbahn railway in central Switzerland, serving the cities of Lucerne, Interlaken, Engelberg and points inbetween. Before a tunnel was built in 2010, the grade between Grafenort and Engelberg reached a staggering 25 percent – hard work even for a rack-assisted engine! Totally appropriately for a system that serves an alpine area, the map looks as if it would be completely at home in […]