Important information
- Please reserve your documents 2 working days in advance.
- You can consult them in the General reading room. Seat reservation is required.
The collection
KBR’s collection of maps and plans consists of:
- more than 100,000 maps and plans on loose leaves, usually on large paper formats
- approx. 600 atlases
- around thirty globes
- a substantial collection of books and journals on cartography
Many of the hand-drawn, engraved and printed maps dating from before 1800 belong to the collection of valuable objects.
The cartographical documents held by the Maps and Plans Department date from the sixteenth century to the present day, representing Belgium and the whole world. They include:
- atlases
- maps of the world
- celestial maps
- nautical charts and portulan maps
- maps of continents, national, regional and local maps
- street plans of towns
- cadastral maps
- military maps, maps of battlefields, topographic maps
- aerial photographs
- thematic maps
The collection is regularly expanded by means of donations, purchases and acquisitions through the Legal Deposit.
Our story maps
The first Antarctic expedition: tracing the voyage of the Belgica
125 years ago, on Monday 16 August 1897, the converted Norwegian sealer ship Belgica left the port of Antwerp amid great interest. An international crew of scientific and sailing personnel was aboard. Travel along with them to the Strait of Magellan in South America and to what was then terra incognita: Antarctica.
This story map with special historical documents, all from the KBR collections, offers a new perspective on the experiences of Adrien de Gerlache and his crew.
Ukraine’s geopolitical history in 10 old maps
Do you get lost in the ongoing (media) war between Russia and Ukraine? We selected ten old maps from our cartographic collection to illustrate the geopolitical history of what is now Ukraine. They offer you a glimpse of the region’s complex past as a borderland 1. Although not exhaustive, this selection illustrates some of the country’s politically significant dates. We invite you to look critically at every map. Maps are never neutral, so they can serve a political agenda.
Geological journey through the cartographic collections of the KBR: from the 19th century to the First World War
You will discover unique maps and documents in the story map, including handwritten geological surveys, preserved by the our department. The notes are based on archival funds on Belgian geological maps of the 19th century, also from the KBR collection.
How to search for maps and plans
There are several ways of looking for a document in the collection:
- Using the online catalogue
- Using the topographical catalogue (on paper)
- Using the catalogue of towns (on paper)
- Using the catalogue of authors (on paper)
All documents dating from after 1997 are listed in the online catalogue, but the best way to search for older documents is to search both the automated catalogue and the paper catalogues.
Cartesius, the online portal
Many of the maps and plans from the collection became available online in August 2015, following the launch of www.cartesius.be. KBR, the State Archives of Belgium, the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the National Geographical Institute have made their historical geographical data available to a wide public by means of the Cartesius Project. The online portal contains maps, plans and aerial photographs of Belgium and Central Africa.
The online collection is increasing gradually, so it’s well worth checking the Cartesius website regularly.