COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Kolding is a very old and charmingly situated little town with a castle in Denmark [...] that lies on the border between the Kingdom of Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig. [...] The town started out as a few fishermen's huts; over the course of time, these were joined by houses built by merchants, who settled here on account of the excellent harbour and easy access to the sea and whose numbers so increased that eventually a municipality formed with its own charter and civic rights. On the hill from which the little town takes its name lies a castle called Adlerburg, which can be easily seen from a great distance."

The port of Kolding on the Danish Jutland Peninsula is seen from a cavalier perspective from the south. The shore of Kolding Fjord can be seen on the right-hand edge of the picture, and in the background is the royal palace of Koldinghus (A), which dates back to the mid-13th century and was originally built as a fortress to defend the border. Kolding sprang up in the 12th century as a trading centre with sheltered access to the sea. With the separation of the neighbouring Duchy of Schleswig from the Kingdom of Denmark in the 13th century, Kolding assumed greater importance as a frontier town and, in 1321, was finally granted its charter. Koldinghus palace was frequently inhabited by the Danish royal family in the Middle Ages before Copenhagen was finally established as the central royal residence in 1417. Kolding itself was long overshadowed by the neighbouring town of Haderslev and later by Fredericia.

The engraving is made after a drawing provided by Heinrich Rantzau. In Braun's text, explicit mention is made of the fact that the view came from the study of the produx cimbricus, i.e. Rantzau. (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.