This exhibition is now closed.

Explore the evolution of maps and the key figures behind them through the expert articles and curious collection items on our Maps website.

Have you ever tried disappearing off the map? It’s harder than you think to be invisible nowadays.

That’s because 100 years of mapping technology – from the original sketch of today’s London Underground to the satellite imagery of the 1990s – has monitored and shaped the society we live in.

Two World Wars. The moon landings. The digital revolution. This exhibition of extraordinary maps looks at the important role they played during the 20th century. It sheds new light on familiar events and spans conflicts, creativity, the ocean floor and even outer space.

It includes exhibits ranging from the first map of the Hundred Acre Wood to secret spy maps, via the New York Subway. And, as technology advances further than we ever imagined possible, it questions what it really means to have your every move mapped. 

#BLMaps

Press reviews

Londonist

'beguiling' … 'a treasure trove of curiosities' – The Telegraph

'a blockbuster exhibition' – The Independent

'There is much that will stop visitors in their tracks' – The Guardian

'enthralling' – Evening Standard

'Drawing the Line has a multitude of maps to get lost in' – Metro

'the history of the 20th century through a cartographer’s lens' – The Times