Iran or Persia as it was known in the West for most of its long history has been mapped extensively for centuries.  But, the absence of any research-oriented and easily accessible collection of such maps has often deterred scholar of the history, geography and culture of Persia from making use of them.  Now, a digital version of ‘Dr. Cyrus Ala’i Collection’ has been produced by SOAS and posted online.  It can be easily accessed and used free of charge worldwide.

The Collection consists of 255 old maps and 5 facsimile maps which have been fully described alongside many other maps of Persia in two large volumes of the map-history of that county by Dr. Cyrus Ala’i: General Maps of Persia, 1477-1925 (Leiden, Brill, 2004) and Special Maps of Persia 1477-1925 (Leiden, Brill, 2010).

This digitial collection is founded in a donation from Dr. Cyrus Ala'i's private collection.  Dr. Ala'i is an internationally renowned scholar of Persian cartography.

Also from the Dr. Cyrus Ala'i Collection comes Illustrating Persia, a collection of 35 sheets from “The Illustrated London News” and “The Graphic”, containing prints of sceneries and culture of Persia, dating from visits of the Persian Royals ‘Nasser al-Din Shah’ and ‘Mazaffar al-Din Shah’ to England in the second half of the nineteenth century.

More information about Dr. Ala'i is available in the Encyclopaedia Iranica.

← Back to Maps​