Scheepvaartmuseum
Maps & Marvels
The exhibition Maps & Marvels at The National Maritime Museum explores how the wider world was discovered from Amsterdam and how the world came to Amsterdam from the Dutch Golden Age onwards.
The presentation showcases maps by Amsterdam-based cartographers from the museum’s top collection of cartographic treasures. The exhibition reveals how, during the Dutch Golden Age, Amsterdam’s seafarers charted their way across the seas and how their journeys helped shape the world as we know it.
These centuries-old maps take visitors on a voyage to regions that helped shape Dutch history: South Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. Audiovisual content and interactives were created by us, including an extensive touchscreen browsing application featuring razor-sharp historical maps by the renowned Amsterdam cartographer Joan Blaeu, dating from 1648.