BANDEROLE: The city of Lowicz, seat of archbishop Gniezno in Masovia.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "The city lies in a very advantageous position on the River Bzura, in a lovely setting. It has broad streets and many squares, a fine marketplace, gardens and very imposing churches, a very ornate collegiate church, two parish churches and two monastery churches. In this area - and nowhere else - there is a kind of bird called sniegal because it comes with the snow and goes away with it, which is very tender and tasty to eat. The city is so full of artisans of all kinds that it is called the Polish Nuremberg."

This is a bird's-eye view from the south of Lowicz, which lies in the Masovian Plain on the River Bzura. On an island in the northwest is the 14th-century castle, the primary residence of the archbishops of Gniezno and the administrative centre. In a triangular area in the middle is the town hall, and below it, the church of the Holy Spirit, the Bernadine monastery with its late Gothic church, is at the southern edge of the city. On the right, the 15th-century Gothic collegiate church can be seen. Lowicz is first mentioned in 1136 in a Bull by Pope Innocent III. Thanks to many privileges, the city attained prosperity in the 16th century with its crafts industry. The famous Lowicz fairs attracted merchants from many countries, and even the Polish kings attended regularly. (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 greatest 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. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. 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 created 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 in 1612. The next 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. In 1561 he obtained his bachelor's degree, and in 1562 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.