TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Jerusalem, the most famous city in the Orient and capital of Judaea, lies on two hills above all surrounding elevations. A densely populated valley separated these two hills. (Josephus calls it Tyropoeon in Book 6 of his Jewish War. ) The higher of the two hills is called Sion and is subdivided into three lesser elevations. In Chapter 5 of the Second Book of Kings, the first of these is called Mello, beside Mount Gion; here was built the ancient stronghold of Siloe that was occupied by the Jebusites and conquered by David, who also brought the Ark of the Covenant here and chose this site as his burial place. The Franciscan monastery, called Sion, was constructed on this very spot. Another elevation on the east side of Sion is called the Lower Town, where David's palace lay. He also resided here in person before he had conquered the Jebusite camp on the Mello. On another hill to the north lay Herod's palace. These three hills were surrounded by a common wall and are called the city of David. The other prominent hill has two parts; the first is called Solomon's Palace, on the south side of the same mountain. Because the Temple stood on this hill, it was also surrounded by a wall and connected to the city of David. The other part of this second prominent hill, opposite Mount Moriah and lying to its east, was called Acra. Its middle part was called Bezetha, which means "New Town". It, too, was surrounded by walls. Another central feature of Acra, opposite the Cedron Stream, includes the palace of the Assyrians; this was a suburb enclosed by walls. Thus, the five hills of Jerusalem described here surrounded four different circumference walls. Jerusalem is, at present, called Cuzumoharech by the Turks.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "That Jerusalem is the centre of the whole world and lies on high mountains in the middle of the land of the Jews is attested by geographers and all historians and the Holy Bible. Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem: I have set it amid the nations and countries that are round about her (Ezek.5). [...] It is divided by many valleys, possesses a fertile soil and also many cisterns with clear water; a triple wall surrounds it [...]."

This plate presents two bird's-eye plans of Jerusalem, on the left as it was in biblical times and on the right as it appeared in the 16th century. The information provided in the cartouches makes it possible to compare the city of the past with that of Braun's day. In the lower right-hand corner is an illustration of Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law, together with the figure of a high priest; the priest's vestments are described in detail in the accompanying cartouche. According to the Bible, at the time of the conquest of Canaan by the tribes of Israel, the city was ruled by the Jebusites; they were driven out by King David in 997 BC. The First Temple was built under Solomon in the middle of the 10th century, and Jerusalem became the centre of Judaism. Solomon's temple was destroyed in 586 BC by the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. The Second Temple was built after the end of Babylonian rule in 537 BC. The Romans conquered Jerusalem in 37 BC and installed Herod the Great as a client king. During the Jewish War in AD 66-70, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and the city was razed to the ground. After the Bar-Kokhba Revolt in AD 132-135, Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitilina, a temple to Jupiter was erected on the Temple Mount, and Jews were forbidden to enter the city on penalty of death. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built under Emperor Constantine and consecrated in AD 335. In 638, the Byzantine city was conquered by the Arabs, who erected the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. During the Crusades, Jerusalem was subject alternately to Christian and Muslim rulers. In the High Middle Ages, the city represented the centre of the world for Christianity. Jerusalem is of great symbolic importance to Jews, Christians and Muslims. (Taschen)

Braun G. & Hogenberg F. and the Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum, or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the most excellent book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully coloured. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century. Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. Many plates were engraved after the original drawings of a professional artist, a professional artist, Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600). The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, and the sixth in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel made those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were cartographers Daniel Freese and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

Following the original publication of Volume 1 of the Civitates in 1572, seven further editions of 1575, 1577, 1582, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1612 can be identified. Vol.2, first issued in 1575, was followed by further editions in 1597 and 1612. The subsequent volumes appeared in 1581, 1588, 1593, 1599 and 1606. The German translation of the first volume appeared from 1574 on, and the French edition from 1575 on.

Several printers were involved: Theodor Graminaeus, Heinrich von Aich, Gottfried von Kempen, Johannis Sinniger, Bertram Buchholtz and Peter von Brachel, who all worked in Cologne.

Georg Braun (1541-1622)

Georg Braun was born in Cologne in 1541. After his studies in Cologne, he entered the Jesuit Order as a novice. 1561, he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562, he received his Magister Artium. Although he left the Jesuit Order, he studied theology, gaining a licentiate in theology.

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590)

Frans Hogenberg was a Flemish and German painter, engraver, and mapmaker. He was born in Mechelen as the son of Nicolaas Hogenberg.

By the end of the 1560s, Frans Hogenberg was employed upon Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570; he is named an engraver of numerous maps. In 1568, he was banned from Antwerp by the Duke of Alva and travelled to London, where he stayed a few years before emigrating to Cologne. He immediately embarked on his two most important works, the Civitates, published in 1572 and the Geschichtsblätter, which appeared in several series from 1569 until about 1587.

Thanks to large-scale projects like the Geschichtsblätter and the Civitates, Hogenberg's social circumstances improved with each passing year. He died as a wealthy man in Cologne in 1590.