This detailed engraving, from Braun & Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, provides a bird’s-eye view of Barth as it appeared in the late 16th century. Encircled by robust fortifications, the town is depicted with a carefully organized urban layout. The prominent Gothic Church of St. Mary (Marienkirche) dominates the center of the town, underscoring the centrality of religious and civic institutions in the community's life. Surrounding the church are orderly rows of timber-framed houses, indicative of Barth’s prosperity and architectural character during this period.
To the west of the town lies the harbor, set against the lagoon of the Baltic Sea. The engraving captures the bustling activity of ships docked at the harbor, a testament to Barth’s significance as a maritime center and its integration into the Baltic trade network. The countryside to the east is richly detailed with windmills, cultivated fields, and small structures, reflecting the agrarian basis of the town's economy and its close relationship with the surrounding rural landscape.
This hand-colored copperplate engraving depicts Barth, a town in modern-day Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, situated in a lagoon of the Baltic Sea opposite the Darß peninsula.
Known for its strategic location and maritime character, Barth played a significant role in the regional history of Pomerania. The first recorded mention of the town dates to 1255, when the prince of Rügen acknowledged it as an important settlement. In 1315, Witzlaw III, the last prince of Rügen, erected a castle in Barth and often resided there until his death. Following his passing, Barth became part of Pomerania, further solidifying its importance within the Duchy. The town's historical trajectory and geographic position made it a key participant in the Baltic trade and a symbol of the region's evolving political landscape during the late medieval and early modern periods.
The engraving is embellished with two coats of arms in the upper corners: the one on the left representing the Duchy of Pomerania and the other likely associated with Barth itself.
Typical of Braun & Hogenberg’s views, the foreground features finely dressed figures that animate the scene and offer insight into the attire and social customs of the period. These figures serve both an artistic and didactic function, adding a human dimension to the urban and rural landscape while providing scale and visual interest.
Civitates Orbis Terrarum: The Greatest City Book
Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg began the process of creating a comprehensive atlas of the cities of the world in 1572. Their book, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, was originally intended as a companion to Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first true atlas.
The great atlas was edited by Georg Braun, with Franz Hogenberg engraving many of the views. When the project was finished, the series would contain over 546 views (sometimes with multiple views on a single plate).
Civitates Orbis Terrarum includes the work of over 100 artists and topographers, perhaps most notable among them was the superlative talent of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600). He provided original drawings of Spanish and Italian towns, as well as reworking and improving the town drawings of other artists. After Joris's death, his son Jakob continued the project.
The Civitates provides an incredibly comprehensive view of urban life in the late 16th century. Many of the views in these volumes are the earliest of their respective towns -- either absolutely, or they are predated only by impossible rarities, as in the case of London. Cities portrayed range from the great capitals of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas to small Swiss hamlets and other tiny villages. As such, this singular and indispensable source for understanding the early modern world.
The work was published in six volumes, each of which contained approximately sixty plates. The subject matter of each plate varied widely, it could provide a single view of a city, two views of the same city, or views of up to nine different cities. The range of designs is extensive, and it is interesting to compare the variety between views of the same city by two different authors.
Georg Braun (1541-1622) was born and died in Cologne. His primary vocation was as Catholic cleric; he spent thirty-seven years as canon and dean at the church St. Maria ad Gradus, in Cologne. Braun was the chief editor of the Civitates orbis terrarum, the greatest book of town views ever published. His job entailed hiring artists, acquiring source material for the maps and views, and writing the text. In this role, he was assisted by Abraham Ortelius. Braun lived into his 80s, and he was the only member of the original team to witness the publication of the sixth volume in 1617.
Frans Hogenberg (ca. 1540-ca. 1590) was a Flemish and German engraver and mapmaker who also painted. He was born in Mechelen, south of Antwerp, the son of wood engraver and etcher Nicolas Hogenberg. Together with his father, brother (Remigius), uncle, and cousins, Frans was one member of a prominent artistic family in the Netherlands.
During the 1550s, Frans worked in Antwerp with the famous mapmaker Abraham Ortelius. There, he engraved the maps for Ortelius’ groundbreaking first atlas, published in Antwerp in 1570, along with Johannes van Deotecum and Ambrosius and Ferdinand Arsenius. It is suspected he engraved the title page as well. Later, Ortelius supported Hogenberg with information for a different project, the Civitates orbis terrarium (edited by Georg Braun, engraved by Hogenberg, published in six volumes, Cologne, 1572-1617). Hogenberg engraved the majority of the work’s 546 prospects and views.
It is possible that Frans spent some time in England while fleeing from religious persecution, but he was living and working in Cologne by 1580. That is the city where he died around 1590. In addition to his maps, he is known for his historical allegories and portraits. His brother, Remigius, also went on to some fame as an engraver, and he died around the same time as his brother.