# 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.

6 images from 2 sources (Wikimedia Commons 5, Library of Congress 1), updated 2026-11-03. Picked from a live search and refreshed daily.

- Same search in the browser: https://image.shep.bot/search?q=old+map&category=archive.map
- Same search over the API: `curl "https://image.shep.bot/v1/search?q=old+map&category=archive.map"`
- Details, files and the credit line: `GET https://image.shep.bot/v1/images/{id}` with an id from the table below.
- Licence verdicts: "Commercial use OK" (with or without credit) is cleared for commercial use; anything else must be checked or is non-commercial. "(editorial)" means people, insignia or brands appear without releases: not for ads. See https://image.shep.bot/docs/licences.md
- Images are never re-hosted: thumbnails, previews and downloads come straight from the source sites.

## 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.

## Images

| ImageAsset | id | What | Source | Licence | Commercial use | Direct download |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [[Map of the old city of Jerusalem](https://www.loc.gov/item/2019701186/) | `loc:2019701186` | Maps, Photo, 755 × 1024, vertical, 1898 | Library of Congress | No known restrictions on publication | Commercial use OK | yes |
| [Old map of Kyiv](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_map_of_Kyiv.jpg) | `wikimediacommons:Old_map_of_Kyiv.jpg` | Maps, 8585 × 6300 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain | Commercial use OK | yes |
| [Old City of Jerusalem map by Survey of Palestine map 1-2,500](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_City_of_Jerusalem_map_by_Survey_of_Palestine_map_1-2,500.jpg) | `wikimediacommons:Old_City_of_Jerusalem_map_by_Survey_of_Palestine_map_1-2,500.jpg` | Maps, 7194 × 8850, vertical, 1936 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain | Commercial use OK | yes |
| [Antique map of Lower Egypt showing Babylon Fortress in Old Cairo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antique_map_of_Lower_Egypt_showing_Babylon_Fortress_in_Old_Cairo.jpg) | `wikimediacommons:Antique_map_of_Lower_Egypt_showing_Babylon_Fortress_in_Old_Cairo.jpg` | Maps, 963 × 653 | Wikimedia Commons | Public domain | Commercial use OK | yes |
| [Daidō-an Ruins the old map of Hakata Narayamachi Hakata-ku fukuoka 20231215](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daid%C5%8D-an_Ruins_the_old_map_of_Hakata_Narayamachi_Hakata-ku_fukuoka_20231215.jpg) | `wikimediacommons:Daidō-an_Ruins_the_old_map_of_Hakata_Narayamachi_Hakata-ku_fukuoka_20231215.jpg` | Maps, 4000 × 3000, 2023 | Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Restricted: read the conditions | yes |
| [Antique Maps - Old Cartographic maps - Antique Map of the Gulf of Aden, 1857 Canvas Print](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antique_Maps_-_Old_Cartographic_maps_-_Antique_Map_of_the_Gulf_of_Aden,_1857_Canvas_Print.jpg) | `wikimediacommons:Antique_Maps_-_Old_Cartographic_maps_-_Antique_Map_of_the_Gulf_of_Aden,_1857_Canvas_Print.jpg` | Maps, 594 × 555, 2025 | Wikimedia Commons | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Restricted: read the conditions | yes |

## 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.

## Related collections

- [Vintage city photos: streets of the past](https://image.shep.bot/collections/vintage-city-photographs.md): Free vintage photographs of city streets, buildings and daily life from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons, with each archive's rights shown.
- [Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), free](https://image.shep.bot/collections/japanese-woodblock-prints.md): Free public-domain Japanese woodblock prints: Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and more, from museum open-access collections, with sizes and CC0 licences shown.
- [Free botanical illustrations and plant drawings](https://image.shep.bot/collections/botanical-illustrations.md): Free public-domain botanical illustrations: hand-coloured plates of flowers, fruit and plants from old herbals and museums, ready for print and design.

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Source: https://image.shep.bot/collections/vintage-maps