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A powerful engraved bird’s-eye view of the fortress city of Buda (German: Ofen) under siege during the 1684 Holy League campaign against the Ottomans, drawn from the Alt Ofen looking along the Danube. Issued in Theatrum Europaeum, the long-running Frankfurt-based chronicle of European wars and politics originally begun by Matthäus Merian the Elder and continued by his heirs, this engraving was printed in 1691 to illustrate the first major setback in the Habsburg effort to drive the Ottomans from Hungary.
The view looks southeast down the Danube River (Danubius Fl.), with Pest on the left bank and the fortified city of Buda on the right, clinging to Castle Hill. Ottoman mosques with tall minarets dominate the skyline. At the base of the hill lies a dense Christian suburb, where the Holy League army under Charles of Lorraine and Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, constructed trenches, redoubts, and batteries during the siege. In the distance, stylized marching formations and encampments show the mass of allied troops arrayed against the city.
On the left, a curled scroll cartouche provides a twenty-item key identifying major features of the battle: the Schloss, the Juden-Kirch (Jewish synagogue), Christian and Turkish baths, military positions including the breach and batteries, cemeteries, gardens, and several burned bridges.
Though the 1684 siege failed, the image kept the Holy Roman and German public educated about the campaign after the fact. Buda would not fall until 1686, in a far bloodier assault.
![Ungria Restaurada compendiosa noticia, de dos tiempos: del Passado. Baxo el Jugo de la Tirania Othomana, del Presente, Baxo el Dominio Catholico de Leopoldo II de Austria. [Hungary Restored, Extensive Notices about].](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/68278.jpg)
