Civitates Orbis Terrarum - Kronborg, Öresund

Map of Helsingör, Kronborg and Öresund by Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg. Published in Citiates Orbis Terrarum, Volume 4, No. 26 - 1588.

Braun and Hogenberg are a several-hundred-year-old name pair that stands as a symbol of one of the highlights in the history of illustration art. Georg Braun was a priest in Cologne, but the priests of that time were often multi-taskers. The bearer of the name Hogenberg, which actually refers to two people; Franz and Abraham, father and son, were coppersmiths also active in Cologne. Braun and Hogenberg were publishers of a board work, which after the title of the first band is usually called "Civitates orbis terrarum" - All the cities of the world. The work was published in the years 1572-1618 and comprised six volumes which, in all, contained between 400 and 500 depictions of various cities, mostly based on the European cultural circle.

The Hogenbergers managed the workshop in Cologne where the copper engraving was produced, and Braun was the work's editor.

The plate we have for sale is a careful reproduction and has the title in the cartouche:
"A very accurate depiction of the Danish sea inlet, called the Sound."

The panel is a bit of an oddity in its context as it was published in a work that was supposed to depict views of cities. But at the same time, Elsinore and the castle are in focus.

An explanation could be that the Sundet and its towns have been well known for centuries, but that Kronborg and Helsingör began to attract attention when Fredrik II had the old castle rebuilt into a strongly fortified palace.

The other cities on the board, Helsingborg, Landskrona, Elbogen (Malmö) and Hafnia (Copenhagen) are reproduced fairly standardly, but certain individual features such as churches and castles can be found, which makes it likely that they were recorded based on other models.

A small curiosity in this context is that both Landskrona Citadel and Malmöhus are placed on the wrong side of the respective city, which makes it likely that they started from models drawn from the land side and the engraver simply missed to mirror the motifs as the view is now from the sea side instead.

Other details on the board worth mentioning are the lighthouse (Pharus) at Kullen and the farm Lundehavne in Elsinore, now known under the name Marienlyst.

The text for the inserted picture of Kronborg reads "The castle's magnificent courtyard."


The print is accompanied by a reproduction of the original work's text in Latin with a translation into Swedish. The text is preferably mounted on the back of the frame.

The picture is sold without a frame.