CAPTION: Kostajnica, a fortress in Croatia

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "After the Turks had held Kostajnica for two years and longer, it was recaptured in 1594 together with the area around Petrinja by the governor of Croatia, Mr Lenckowitz, captain-general under Archduke Maximilian. [...] And the Pasha of Bosnia immediately gathered a stronger army to attack and destroy the fortress and the camp of the Christians. [...] One cannot hope enough that the Christians will bury all hatred, dissension and enmity among themselves so that they may tear as many lovely kingdoms, lands and cities as possible from the jaws of this barbaric enemy, and above all deliver many thousands of souls from oppression."

This is a view from the south of the village with its watchtower and church, setting an idyllic rural wine-growing area. The village lies on the north bank of the Una, on either side of the road that crosses the river. Crescent flags are flying over the fortress on the far right and over the castle on the island built by the Croatian noble family of the Frankopans, showing that we are in an Ottoman-occupied area. The episode referred to by Braun was one of the many conflicts in the border area. Kostajnica (German Castanowitz) was in the hands of the Turks from 1556 to 1687. Today, this little town lies on the border with Bosnia and is called Hrvatska Kostajnica, to distinguish it from Bosanka Kostajnica, south of Bosnia's river. (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.