TRANSLATION CARTOUCHE TOP: Munich, capital of the two Bavarias.

CARTOUCHES BOTTOM LEFT AND RIGHT: A poem in 24 verses by the knight Anselmus Stöckli in praise of the city of Munich.

CARTOUCHE BOTTOM CENTRE: To his most gracious Prince and Lord, D. William, Rhenish Palgrave and Duke of the two Bavarias, his most benevolent Lord as a sign of his humblest gratitude from Georg Hoefnagel.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "When Henry, Duke in Saxony and Bavaria, had returned from the pilgrimage undertaken from piety to Jerusalem [...], he is said to return to his (now known as Upper Bavaria) region and there, near the monastic establishment of the Schefflar chapterhouse, he built a new city, which he called Munich [...]. However, because the accustomed salt and overland route to Salzburg, which even to the present day runs along the Bavarian Alps and is rich of its revenues from salt, at that time ran through Föhring, where there was also a bridge and a trading post, Henry is said to have launched a surprise attack at Föhring, demolishing its bridge and transferring the salt trade along with the bridge toll to the city he had just built."

This plate shows a panoramic view of the city on the Isar and its environs, seen from the east. In the left background the Alps are visible to the south of the city (D). The Isar gate (P) stands out amid the city's fortifications. Above the whole tower the spires of the cathedral of our Blessed Lady, also known as the Frauenkirche (Y), whose existing structure was begun in 1468. To the right of it is the Alter Hof with the chapel of St Lawrence. The New Residence was built on the northern fringes of the city (7). St Peter's (O) is Munich's oldest parish church. (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.