Old Map of Lisbon by Meyer, 1844: Praça do Comércio, Rossio, Castelo de São Jorge, Sé Cathedral, Tagus River

Joseph Meyer’s 1844 plan, titled Lissabon (Lisboa), presents a masterful marriage of cartographic fidelity and artistic flourish, crowned by a striking panoramic view that stages the city against the broad sweep of the Tagus River and its encircling hills. Ornamental borders and a finely worked cartouche frame a composition that is both analytical and evocative, drawing the eye from the grid of the baixa to the serried ridgelines above. As a city map, it is remarkable for how lucidly it renders Lisbon’s urban order while never losing sight of the topography that governs it—steep inclines, riverfront quays, and the arterial roads that knit together districts old and new.

At street level, Meyer’s draftsmanship clarifies the Pombaline city rebuilt after the 1755 earthquake. The regimented blocks of the Baixa unfold between Praça do Comércio and Praça do Rossio, their commercial life legible along Rua do Ouro, Rua da Prata, and Rua do Comércio. To the west, the cultured slope of Chiado gathers around Largo do Chiado, while Bairro Alto rises via the switchback of Calçada da Glória and the literary lanes off Rua do Século. Eastward, Alfama tightens into medieval intimacy on Rua de São Miguel. Along the waterfront, Rua de São Paulo traces Cais do Sodré’s mercantile edge. The axial sweep of Avenida da Liberdade organizes movement northward, knitting the center to expanding quarters such as Campo de Ourique and beyond.

Meyer anchors this urban tapestry with landmarks that orient both resident and visitor. The citadel of Castelo de São Jorge crowns the skyline above Alfama, mirrored below by the sober mass of the Sé Cathedral. On the western heights, the palatial seat at São Bento presides over Rua de São Bento; nearer the river, the noble facades on Rua das Janelas Verdes and the lanes of Lapa—Beco da Lapa, Travessa da Esperança—signal patrician Lisbon. In the Baixa, the arcaded Praça do Comércio opens like a ceremonial gate to the Tagus, while Rossio remains the city’s pulsing stage. The panoramic vignette captures rigged vessels and bustling quays, reinforcing the maritime metabolism that the street plan so methodically serves.

Geography is protagonist here, not backdrop. The Tagus bends in a generous arc that explains the city’s mercantile focus and the alignment of principal thoroughfares, from Rua de São Paulo to Travessa das Flores. Hills decide neighborhood character: the intimate climbs of Beco dos Sapos and the precipitous Calçada de São Francisco differ utterly from the broad promenade of Avenida da Liberdade and Rua das Portas de Santo Antão. An inset map extends the frame to the hinterland, threading Estrada de Benfica, Estrada de Telheiras, Estrada dos Reis, and the road toward Albufeira—arteries that reveal Lisbon’s dependence on regional supply lines and its 19th‑century appetite for suburban reach.

Meyer, celebrated for fusing precision with pictorial grace in his encyclopedic projects, delivers here a snapshot of Lisbon at a hinge moment—decades after its Pombaline reinvention and on the cusp of later 19th‑century expansions. The city’s mercantile grid, religious and civic monuments, and rising bourgeois quarters coexist with traces of older quarters and rural thresholds. This is what makes Lissabon (Lisboa) such a notable city map: it reads the metropolis as a living negotiation between plan and place, commerce and court, hill and harbor. In Meyer’s hands, decorative cartography is never mere ornament; it is an interpretive lens that reveals how Lisbon’s landscape shaped its history—and how its streets shaped its soul.

Streets and roads on this map

• Avenida da Liberdade
• Campo de Ourique
• Rua da Paz
• Rua da Prata
• Rua das Janelas Verdes
• Rua do Comércio
• Rua do Ouro
• Rua do Século
• Rua dos Caldeireiros
• Rua dos Três Figueiras
• Rua das Portas de Santo Antão
• Rua de São Paulo
• Rua de São Miguel
• Rua de São Bento
• Rua do Seminário
• Travessa da Esperança
• Travessa de Santo António
• Praça do Comércio
• Praça do Rossio
• Largo do Chiado
• Estrada de Benfica
• Estrada de Albufeira
• Estrada de Telheiras
• Estrada dos Reis
• Beco dos Sapos
• Beco da Lapa
• Calçada de São Francisco
• Calçada da Glória
• Travessa das Flores

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Panoramic view of Lisbon
• Decorative borders
• Geographic features such as hills and the Tagus River
• Key urban neighborhoods
• Notable landmarks
• Inset map detailing surrounding areas

Historical and design context

• Date of creation: 1844
• Mapmaker: Joseph Meyer, a noted 19th-century cartographer
• Meyer’s contribution: combined cartographic precision with artistic elements, often in encyclopedias and geographic publications
• Themes: urban layout, geographic features, and decorative cartography emphasizing the city–landscape relationship
• Design/style: intricate layout with ornamented borders and cartouche; blend of artistic illustration and cartographic accuracy
• Historical significance: offers insight into Lisbon’s 19th-century urban planning and development in the post-1755 era and before later modernization
• Region depicted: Lisbon, Portugal

Please double check the images to make sure that a specific town or place is shown on this map. You can also get in touch and ask us to check the map for you.

This map looks great at every size, but I always recommend going for a larger size if you have space. That way you can easily make out all of the details.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 70in (180cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

Please note: the labels on this map are hard to read if you order a map that is 16in (40cm) or smaller. The map is still very attractive, but if you would like to read the map easily, please buy a larger size.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

The fifth listing image shows an example of my map personalisation service.

If you’re looking for something slightly different, check out my collection of the best old maps to see if something else catches your eye.

Please contact me to check if a certain location, landmark or feature is shown on this map.

This would make a wonderful birthday, Christmas, Father's Day, work leaving, anniversary or housewarming gift for someone from the areas covered by this map.

This map is available as a giclée print on acid free archival matte paper, or you can buy it framed. The frame is a nice, simple black frame that suits most aesthetics. Please get in touch if you'd like a different frame colour or material. My frames are glazed with super-clear museum-grade acrylic (perspex/acrylite), which is significantly less reflective than glass, safer, and will always arrive in perfect condition.