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Antique maps > europe > eastern europe > Antique map - bird's-eye view of Hrodna (Grodno - Belarus) by Braun and Hogenberg

Grodna - Vera Designatio Urbis in Littavia Grodnae. - Braun & Hogenberg, 1623.



Bird's-eye view of Belarus - Hrodna (Grodno) by Braun & Hogenberg.

TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Faithful picture of the city of Grodno in Lithuania.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Lithuania is a vast but uncultivated land, east of Poland, with much grassland and marshes. The episcopal city of Vilnius is the capital and it is as big as Cracow with all its suburbs. The next biggest is Grodno, which lies on the River Cronon, or Memel, partly in the plain and partly on hilly ground. There are only a few stone houses standing together, the houses are roughly built, with little care; the city also has no walls or towers, gates and fortifications. But nearby there is a castle and a royal palace on the mountain, there the king of Poland has his seat."

The engraving shows a view of the city from the far side of the Memel. Russian, Tatar, Turkish and Wallachian envoys are crossing the wooden bridge and entering the city in which King Sigismund II held an Imperial Diet in 1562. The earliest document in which Grodno is mentioned dates from 1128. In 1391 it was granted a municipal charter by Prince Vytautas and it quickly rose to prosperity following the victory over the Teutonic Knights in the battle of Tannenberg in 1410; Orthodox (right) and Roman Catholic (left) churches were built, and three castles (left). Grodno, today known as Hrodna, has a population of 317,000, is the fifth-largest city in Belarus and shares a border with Lithuania and Poland.

The view is copied after an engraving by Matthias Zündt, 1568, after a drawing by Johann Adelhauser, 1567. (Taschen)

First edition: 1575
Date of this print: 1623

Copper engraving
Size: 30.5 x 48cm (11.9 x 18.7 inches)
Verso text: Latin
Condition: Old coloured, excellent.
Condition Rating: A
References: Van der Krogt 4, 1637; Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.194.

From: Civitates Orbis Terrarum, ... Part 2: De Praecipuis, Totius Universi Urbibus, Liber Secundus. Köln, Petrus von Brachel, 1623. (Van der Krogt 4, 41:1.2)

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Item number: 22408
Price: 850 Euro

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