Georg Braun

See also Georg Braun (footballer) and Georg Braun (motorcyclist)

A 1581 bird's-eye etching of Zürich published by Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg

Georg Braun (also Brunus, Bruin; 1541 – 10 March 1622) was a topo-geographer.^[1] From 1572 to 1617 he edited the Civitates orbis terrarum, which contains 546 prospects, bird's-eye views, and maps of cities from all around the world.^[2]

Braun was born and died in Cologne. His principal profession was as a Catholic cleric, however, and he spent thirty-seven years as canon and dean at the church, St. Maria ad Gradus, in Cologne.

The six-volume work was inspired by Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia. In form and layout it resembles the 1570 Theatrum orbis terrarum by Abraham Ortelius, as Ortelius was interested in a complementary companion for the Theatrum.

The Braun publication set new standards in cartography for over 100 years. Frans Hogenberg (1535–1590, from Munich) created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI. Other contributors were Georg Hoefnagel, cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau. Also, works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were used. Mainly, European cities are depicted in the publication, however, Casablanca^[3] and Mexico City^[4] are also included in volume I.

Georg Braun was the principal editor of the work, he acquired the tables, hired the artists, and wrote the texts. He died as an octogenarian in 1622, as the only survivor of the original team to witness the publication of volume VI in 1617.

Sources

1. ^ Neue Deutsche Biographie [1]
2. ^ Civitates orbis terrarum - Braun and Hogenberg
3. ^ Map of Casablanca, 1572, Braun and Hogenberg
4. ^ Map of Mexico, 1572, Braun and Hogenberg

This article incorporates information from the revision as of 2008-06-29 of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

• James Elliot, The City in Maps: Urban Mapping to 1900, 1987, British Library London, ISBN 0712301348 [2]
• Ronald Vere Tooley, Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, 1979, ISBN 0845117017 [3]
• Leo Bagrow, Abraham Ortelius: A. Ortelii Catalogus Cartographorum, J. Perthes, 1928 [4]

External links

• Geldner, Ferdinand: Braun, Georg. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 2. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, p. 550. (German)
• Georg Braun in the German National Library catalogue (German)
  • Wolfgang Bruhn: Alte deutsche Städtebilder : 24 farb. Blätter / Georg Braun ; Franz Hogenberg, J. Asmus , Leipzig, 1938 [5]
  • Georg Braun, Franz Hogenberg: Old European Cities: 16th century city maps and texts, with a description by Ruthardt Oehme of early map-making techniques, London, Thames and Hudson, 1965 [6]
• Civitates orbis terrarum (description and high-res scans)
• Civitates orbis terrarum - Braun and Hogenberg

Persondata
Name	Braun, Georg
Alternative names
Short description	Cleric, canon, dean
Date of birth	1541-00-00
Place of birth	Cologne
Date of death	10 March 1622
Place of death	Cologne