Maps of Jerusalem can be categorised between original factual maps, copied maps and imaginary maps, the latter being based on religious books. The maps were produced in a variety of materials, including parchment, vellum, mosaic, wall paintings and paper. Most extant maps known to scholars from the pre-modern era were prepared by Christian mapmakers for a Christian European audience. All maps marking milestones in the cartography of Jerusalem are listed here following the cartographic histories of the city, from Titus Tobler and Reinhold Röhricht's studies in the 19th century to those of Hebrew University of Jerusalem academics Rehav Rubin and Milka Levy-Rubin in recent decades. The article lists maps that progressed the cartography of Jerusalem before the rise of modern surveying techniques, showing how mapmaking and surveying improved and helped outsiders to better understand the geography of the city. Imaginary maps of the ancient city and copies of existing maps are excluded.
The Madaba Map discovered in modern-day Jordan is the oldest known map of Jerusalem, in the form of a mosaic in a Greek Orthodox Church. At least 12 maps survive from the Catholic mapmakers of the Crusades; they were drawn on vellum and mostly show the city as a circle. Approximately 500 maps are known between the late-1400s and the mid-1800s; the significant increase in number is due to the advent of the printing press. The first printed map of the city was drawn by Erhard Reuwich and published in 1486 by Bernhard von Breydenbach in his Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, based on his pilgrimage of 1483. Few of the mapmakers had travelled to Jerusalem – most of the maps were either copies of others' maps or were imaginary (i.e. based on reading of religious texts) in nature. The first map based on actual field measurements was published in 1818 by the Czech mapmaker Franz Wilhelm Sieber. The first map based on modern surveying techniques was published by Charles Wilson in 1864–65 for the British Ordnance Survey.
Notable maps of Jerusalem Early religious (6th–7th centuries) + Date Title Cartographer Comments Image 560–565 Madaba Map unknown The earliest known map of Jerusalem, and oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history. The mosaic was discovered in 1884, but no research was carried out until 1896. It has been heavily used for the localisation and verification of sites in Byzantine Jerusalem, such as the Damascus Gate, the Lions' Gate, the Golden Gate, the Zion Gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Tower of David; in 1967, excavations revealed The Nea church and the Cardo Maximus (the road depicted in the map that runs through the centre of Jerusalem) in the locations suggested by the Madaba Map. 680 Arculf map Arculf via Adomnán Ground plan from the first book of De Locis Sanctis. The map shows relevant Christian sites in relation to each other. The earliest known manuscript dates from the ninth century, two centuries after Arculf's journey. It was the oldest known map of Jerusalem prior to the discovery of the Madaba map. Arculf spent nine months in Jerusalem before transmitting the story of his travels to Adomnán, for the benefit of other pilgrims. Adomnán wrote that Arculf had drawn his maps and plans on wax tablets. Not all the known manuscripts of the text include the maps and plans. 785 Umm ar-Rasas mosaics unknown Part of the mosaic floor at the center of the Umm ar-Rasas Byzantine St. Stephen's church depicting Jerusalem, identifying it as Hagia Polis in Greek, the Holy City. The mosaic floor depicts eight cities west of the Jordan River, Jerusalem being the first one, while the right side depicting seven cities east of the Jordan River, and the inner corners depicting cities of the Nile Delta. The entire mosaic appears to have been completed during the Abbasid Caliphate.
Crusader maps (12th–14th centuries) The Crusader maps were first catalogued in the late 19th century by Reinhold Röhricht; he catalogued eight maps, which he labelled (1) Brüssel, (2) Copenhagen, (3) Florenz?, (4) Haag, (5) München (6) St. Omer, (7) Paris and (8) Stuttgart. Map (3) was later identified as the Uppsala map, and map (5) is the Arculf map (see section above). Today, at least 12 such maps are known.
A majority of the crusader maps are known as "round maps”, showing the city as a perfect circle, considered to symbolize the “ideal city”. These maps have unique features, but they are all related; it is likely that there was an original prototype from which these maps were derived. Four of the earlier round maps are associated with the Gesta Francorum; it has been suggested that illustrating this text may have been the purpose of the prototype round map. All the round maps are east-facing, like the T and O maps of the world to which they show a number of similarities, have five gates in non-symmetrical locations, and show the actual basic street plan of Jerusalem. The maps show two central roads in the shape of a cross, likely to represent the Roman cardo and decumanus, with an additional street leading to Yehoshafat's Gate and – in most but not all – a fourth street starting at St. Stephen's Gate.
+ Date Title Cartographer Comments Image 1140s Cambrai map unknown From the Médiathèque d'agglomération de Cambrai. It is considered to be the most accurate of the Crusader maps, highly likely to be based on direct knowledge. The walls of the city are shown in the shape of a rhomboid, from an elevation perspective. The map provides names for gates and towers, shows some main streets, and marks the main buildings and churches. The Holy Sephulchre is shown in its new Crusader form and labelled "Anastasis", the Al Aqsa Mosque is labelled "Domus Militum Templi", and numerous eastern churches are shown – Mar Saba, Chariton's lavra, St George, St Abraham, St Bartholomew, and the Jacobite church of St Mary Magdalene. 1150 Brussels map unknown A round map in decorative style with miniatures of pilgrims. The map is from the Royal Library of Belgium, dated to the mid 12th century. 1170 Hague map unknown The most famous of eleven round Crusader maps. The map is in decorative style with miniatures of fighting crusaders. 1100s Paris map unknown A round map with detailed pictures of buildings. It is one of four crusader maps with a connection to the Gesta Francorum, from a copy of the Liber Floridus held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France it carries part of the text from the Gesta Francorum around and within the map. Thought to be from the 12th century. 1100s Uppsala map unknown Another of the four round maps with a connection to the Gesta Francorum. It is located in a manuscript between Robert the Monk's Historia Hierosolymitana and the Gesta Francorum (presented as the 10th book of the Historia Hierosolymitana), held in the Uppsala University Library. It was rediscovered in 1995. 1100s Saint Omer map unknown A round map from a copy of the Gesta Francorum held in the French town of Saint-Omer. 1200 London map unknown From a miscellaneous set of manuscripts in the British Library. It is another of the four round maps with a connection to the Gesta Francorum; it carries part of the text from the Gesta Francorum around and within the map. 1200 Codex Harley map unknown From the British Library's Harleian Library. The map represents the itinerary of a pilgrim, with Jerusalem as its highlight. It is unrelated to the other round maps, as it has only four symmetrical gates, and has no crossroads. The map "has no pretense of accuracy", but rather presents "the author's conception of his journey". 1200s Montpellier map unknown Held in the University of Montpellier library. The map is north-facing, is the only crusader map in a square shape, and includes a description of crusader forces arrayed outside the walls of the city. The sites identified on the map – various sites of the Passion of Jesus, the site where Helena found the cross, and the navel of the earth – are in locations "only remotely related to reality". 1250 Matthew Paris map Pilgrimage map from Chronica Majora. It is likely to have been based on a set of itineraries. 1300s Copenhagen map unknown A round map in northern European style. The annotations were probably made by Haukr Erlendsson. 1300s Stuttgart map unknown A round map from the Württembergische Landesbibliothek. It was originally acquired from the Zwiefalten Abbey, and is thought to be from the 14th century. 1321 Sanudo-Vesconte map Published in Liber Secretorum. The work was intended to rekindle the spirit of the crusades. It is considered likely that the cartography dates from prior to the Crusaders' final loss of Jerusalem in 1244. The map focuses on the city's water supply. The map ”has no obvious precursor” in map form; it is thought to have used texts from Josephus and Burchard of Mount Sion.
Notable 15th–18th century maps