ART DECO WALL MAP OF THE HIGHWAY OF SCHIELAND "Hoogheemraadschap - Schieland", colour lithograph made by Pieter Willem van Baarsel in Blaricum and printed in 1928 on 4 sheets by the firm N.J.J. Smulders en Co., book and stone printers in The Hague. Dim. (when assembled) 128 x 154 cm. This map was commissioned by the dike warden and water board on the occasion of the 650th anniversary of the Schieland water board. The layout harks back to the familiar image of seventeenth and eighteenth century wall maps. The map is richly decorated with, among other things, the coat of arms of Schieland, the family coats of arms of the dike reeve and the water board members, the secretary-treasurer and the engineer, as well as the coats of arms of Rotterdam and the fourteen municipalities which, with regard to their drainage, fall under the responsibility of the water board. At the bottom of the map there is an appropriate depiction of a polder pumping station that takes in and releases water. Everything is very decoratively done in Art Deco style. As far as we know, it is the only water board map made in this style. The reason why the map was issued is more representative than functional, although some functionality cannot be denied. For example, the director of the Municipal Electricity Company in Delft recalled in a lecture for the Zuid-Hollandschen Waterschapsbond in 1914 that the Polder Bleyswijk was originally drained by 27 windmills. Not long afterwards, it was decided to replace these windmills with an electric drainage system using five 500 hp centrifugal pumps. Some of the 27 windmills are visible on the map. For the edition of 300 in which the map was printed, the costs amounted to fl. 3.385,-. Literature: Marc Hameleers "'Recent old maps' of the Hoogheemraadschap of Schieland". In: Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 2, pp. 30-35. Price: Euro 3.250,-
