The oldest surviving map of the capital will be the centrepiece of a new free exhibition in Islington.
Magnificent Maps of London will open at the City of London Corporation’s London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) in Clerkenwell on April 11.
Civitas Londinium, also known as the Woodcut or Agas map, was produced in the 1570s and gives a unique bird’s eye view of London, across the Thames from Southwark towards the hills of Hampstead and Highgate.
Only three prints of the map are known to survive, all dating from 1633. The creator of the map remains a mystery.
Other exhibition highlights include a survey, the Ruins of London, which was commissioned by the City of London Corporation in the week following the 1666 Great Fire of London to help rebuild the city.
The Great Fire started in a baker's shop on Pudding Lane and spread quickly because of strong winds.
Over 13,000 houses, almost 90 churches, the Royal Exchange, Guildhall and St. Paul’s Cathedral were razed.
The exhibition also includes maps created in the 19th century showing the spread of then fatal diseases like typhoid, cholera and smallpox, which inflicted terrible loss of life in Victorian London.
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