| Tallinn | Tartu | Pärnu | Narva |

The drawing of town maps reaches as far back as the building of first town. The earliest preserved map of a human settlement (8,000 years old) is a fresco that was found during archaeological excavations on a Neolithic settlement site in Turkey. Several town maps from Babylon (on clay tablets), ancient Egypt, Rome and China have also preserved. The need for town maps increased with the development of trade business, crusades and pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance land surveying methods were improved and a strict geometry-based teaching of projections evolved. Since that it became possible to draw town maps, so far predominantly by sight, using more rigorous methods. (However, observing the town maps of ancient times, there are indications that attempts had been made to draw them to a consistent scale.) Town maps have been designed both using a central projection (from a “bird’s eye” perspective) as well as an orthogonal projection (ground plan). Central projection maps can be taken for views of the town taken from a higher location point, where the facades of the buildings can be seen from. Orthogonal projection maps are, on the other hand, sensible and practical. They can be easily enriched with additional information, because the depictions of facades are not disturbing it. Frequently, the maps of that type are still complemented with images of outstanding buildings. Since ancient times till today pictures of landscapes surrounding the town, buildings and local human types have been used as town map design elements; artistically designed indexes and, in modern times, also advertisements are often added.
A modern town map is a common commodity for finding one’s way about the town. Town maps for general use are rich in details and provide a lot of information about the town’s sights, traffic, culture, service sector, etc. Town maps that provide special information about the town (for instance, electrical, water supply and disposal networks, sources of pollution) are specialists` tools.

The earliest Estonian town map in the Estonian State Archives` map collection is a manuscript map of Narva drawn by a land surveyor, Gunnar Nilsson-Velti, in 1649 (fund No 1646, inventory list No 1, item 2635). The history of our printed town maps, however, begins in the second half of the 19th century, because in Estonia there was not a single copperplate printing press before the beginning of the 19th century, and the first lithography shops were established in Tartu 1833 and in Tallinn 1834. The earliest map of Tallinn in the National Library of Estonia`s map collection originates from 1856. The exact year of publication of the earliest map of Tartu is unknown; however, it was probably issued in the same decade, as it has been printed in the Government of Estonia`s printing office that was founded in 1858. In Czarist Russia the General Staff solely commissioned topographic surveying. Local authorities, including municipalities, were permitted to order geodetic maps and plans of their own territories only. They were drawn by official land surveyors. With the censor’s consent, several of these maps and plans were allowed to print and put on the market. For this reason, the censor’s name is frequently printed on the earliest maps. The maps published up to the year 1910 are in Russian or in German, and generally published in Estonia, but printed abroad. The most outstanding Estonian map publisher in the second half of the 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century was Kluge & Ströhm, a bookseller and publisher from Tartu, who printed most of its town map publications in Pharus printing office in Berlin. However, Kluge & Ströhm used the services of the printing offices of J. H. Gessel and the inheritors of Lindfors, which were equipped with the most modern lithography technology in Estonia, too. In the second half of the 19th century the Technical Office of Tallinn City Government and the Government of Estonia also published the maps of Tallinn and Tartu. The earliest printed maps of Narva originate from 1905 and are produced by Ivan K. Grünthal`s printing office in Narva. The first Estonian-language map of Tallinn was published by Jakob Ploompuu and printed by Voldemar Ehrenpreis in Tallinn. The World War I and the years of confusement after the war hindered the development of Estonian printing industry. Publishing was enlivened in the early 1920s. During the decade a major development in drawing and publishing of maps took place. In the beginning, maps were published in one or two colour print, in 1930 – already in four colour print. The drawing and publishing of town maps were also quickly and firmly established. Town maps published in 1918-1944 are interesting and valuable not only from the stand point of the history of towns, but also from the stand point of the development of their territory, street names and network. Especially large number of published maps depicted Tallinn, Tartu, Narva and Pärnu; nevertheless, smaller towns like Elva, Haapsalu, Kuressaare, Nõmme, Narva-Jõesuu, Paide, Petseri, Valga and others were not entirely neglected, too.