Peeking in at the Map Restorer's Shop

Last week we took a short vacation in Paris. One of our many long walks was along the Promenade Plantee, a linear elevated park that runs along an old railway viaduct. The Viaduct des Arts is a line of specialty arts and crafts stores in the archways underneath.

One of these shops specializes in the restoration of antique maps. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately since it prevented me from spending hundreds of euros) the shop was closed for lunch. I peeked through the windows and took a few photos. This map illustrates the look before and after restoration. The area shown is just south of Versailles.

They also offer hand colorization. Below is the Roussel Plan of Paris from 1730. A sign in the window has the following prices in euros (about $1.30 per US dollar); 355€ for the black and white map, 2,050€ for colorization and the complete package with masking and framing for 3,020€.

 

Expand that out to the entire map and you get a lot of colorizing for your 2.000 euros.