2D Wooden Map of France, Multicolor

France, region by region, in warm wood

Each of the thirteen regions is cut as its own piece in its own shade, cream, honey, chestnut, dark walnut and a grey-brown, with Corsica set apart to the lower right as it is on the ground. Inside each region the départements are engraved rather than cut, their boundaries drawn as fine lines with the names set within them, and the towns engraved between: not only Paris, Lyon and Marseille but Alençon, Cholet and Chartres.

Warm throughout, which is what separates it from our Graphite version of the same map. Against pale walls and light wood furniture it belongs; against cold grey or navy the Graphite does better.

A landmark on nearly every region

Small wooden figures sit on the regions: Mont-Saint-Michel on Normandie, the Eiffel Tower on Paris, the cathedral and a champagne bottle on Grand Est, Château de Chambord on Centre-Val de Loire, a sailing ship off Bretagne, a wedge of cheese on Pays de la Loire, a bottle on Nouvelle-Aquitaine, grapes on Bourgogne, the Puy de Dôme on Auvergne, a castle on Occitanie, a yacht on Provence. They are the first thing a French visitor looks for, right after their own town.

More named places than a world map carries

At this scale that level of detail is possible in a way it is not on a world map, where France is one shape. Here it is a hundred named places, and the map reads as a reference from close up.

Who buys it

People with a relationship to a particular part of France rather than to the country in general: someone who lives there, comes from there, moved away, or spends every summer in one corner of it. That makes it a narrower gift than a world map. With a world map you cannot get it wrong; with this one the recipient either has a connection to France or does not.

Small, flat, and easy to place

50 × 51 cm and 4 mm thick, roughly the size of a large framed photograph and projecting almost nothing from the wall. Unlike our world maps it does not need to dominate a wall, and it sits beside other things: in a hallway, between windows, above a desk. It goes up on double-sided tape in a couple of hours, outer pieces first.

One thing to know before ordering

The engraving is in French. Region names, départements and towns all use their French forms, which is correct for the subject and worth knowing if the map is going to someone who reads none. There is no English version.

Living with it

The engraved département lines are fine and collect dust more readily than a plain surface. A soft dry brush clears them; a damp cloth smears rather than lifts. Keep it out of direct sun, which lightens the pale regions faster than the dark ones and gradually flattens the distinction between them.

France three ways

This is the flat version. The relief map stacks each region so it stands off the wall and casts a shadow; the Graphite is this same map in slate and grey. If the interest is wine rather than geography, the wine maps of France divide the country by vineyard instead.

One honest limitation

A decorative object rather than a cartographic instrument. Coastlines are simplified and the smallest features are omitted.