The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: January eighth, getting acquainted with the art of antique maps.

Many travelers enjoy sitting down with a good map. Apart from providing a lay of the land, maps can add insights that bring a place to life. Old maps more than offer historical perspectives. Map engravers were once regarded with the same reverence as master artists. For many collectors who love fine and rare things, antique maps have become an art form. Here's a place to pursue that art.

The Geography and Map Reading Room at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. may contain the most comprehensive collection of old maps anywhere. The more than four million maps, atlases and globes that are housed here are available for public viewing at no cost. The main reading room contains a nice selection of standard topography maps, reference books and road maps, but the really good stuff is in the back. This area is off limits to the public, but if you know what to ask for, the librarians can bring you the wonders of the ages.

Many of these maps are extremely old: animal skin charts used by 14th- century mariners to navigate the Mediterranean; maps that detail land ownership in medieval Europe; city plans from Colonial America. There are editions of the first books to contain maps and many early atlases. The Library of Congress collection of more than 300 globes includes early celestial models, as well as several by James Wilson, America's first globemaker.

The map reading room is located in the Madison Building on Independence Avenue. It's open weekdays and Saturday mornings. Bring a photo I.D.

FMI The Library of Congress Map Reading Room is in the Madison Building on Independence Avenue. It's open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m and Saturday morning: 202-707-6277 or www.lcweb.loc.gov/rr/geomap

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