Are old maps in the public domain?

Maps published in the US before 1930 are public domain, as are most older maps worldwide. The Library of Congress shows a rights statement on each; Wikimedia Commons records a licence per file.

How large are map scans?

Library and museum scans are often very large, sometimes over 10,000 pixels across, so you can crop a single district for a background or a print.

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History & archives

Vintage maps: free antique maps and atlases

Free antique and vintage maps from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons: city plans, world maps and charts, with the rights statement for each.

Images: 6 images
Sources: from 2 sources
1080 px or larger: 3 at 1080 px or larger
Cleared for commercial use: 4 cleared for commercial use
Direct downloads: 6 with direct download
Updated: November 3, 2026

Search live for “old map”Use it from code or an agent

Picked automatically from a live search of 33 sites and refreshed daily. Thumbnails load straight from the source, never through this site. Each image belongs to its creator: check its licence on the source page before you publish.

Maps as pictures

Old maps are history, design and decoration at once: hand-coloured world maps with sea monsters, bird’s-eye city views, nautical charts and railway maps. The Library of Congress has digitised hundreds of thousands, and Wikimedia Commons holds many more from libraries around the world.

Using them

Crop details for backgrounds, book covers, game art and wall prints. Map scans are often enormous: download the original for print, a 1920 px copy for the web.

Check the rights statement on Library of Congress items: most old maps say No known restrictions on publication, shown here as free to use. A credit to the collection is a courtesy, and helps readers find the full map.

Where these come from

Licences

Public domain: 3
CC BY-SA 4.0: 2
No known restrictions on publication: 1

CC0 and public domain: commercial use, no credit needed. CC BY and NASA media need a credit line; editorial images are not for ads. Image licences explained

Guides

From code or an agent

The same search over the REST API:

curl "https://image.shep.bot/v1/search?q=old+map&category=archive.map"

Or give your AI agent the MCP server https://image.shep.bot/mcp and ask for “old map”. Setup

Questions

Are old maps in the public domain?: Maps published in the US before 1930 are public domain, as are most older maps worldwide. The Library of Congress shows a rights statement on each; Wikimedia Commons records a licence per file.
How large are map scans?: Library and museum scans are often very large, sometimes over 10,000 pixels across, so you can crop a single district for a background or a print.

All collections →

Vintage city photos: streets of the past
Free vintage photographs of city streets, buildings and daily life from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons, with each archive's rights shown.
1 image from 1 source · 1 at 1080 px or larger
Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), free
Free public-domain Japanese woodblock prints: Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and more, from museum open-access collections, with sizes and CC0 licences shown.
36 images from 4 sources · 18 at 1080 px or larger
Free botanical illustrations and plant drawings
Free public-domain botanical illustrations: hand-coloured plates of flowers, fruit and plants from old herbals and museums, ready for print and design.
36 images from 6 sources · 21 at 1080 px or larger