This fine beautifully
hand coloured
original antique map a birds-eye
view of
the city Ghent in the
East Flanders region of Belgium was published by Georg Braun
& Frans Hogenberg for the 1575 atlas of town plans
Civiates Orbis Terrarum Vol II (1572-1612) intended as a
companion to Abraham Ortelius's master Atlas Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum published in 1570.
Translation of
the Cartouche Text: Ghent, the most splendid city in
Flanders, was founded by Julius Caesar and called Gaius
after his forename, as the Brabant chroniclers relate.
The city is distinguished by its rivers, altogether
delightful, magnificent, spacious, never confined,
nowhere stifling. The houses are innumerable and
well-kept, the men richly talented, the customs
venerable. A double wall amplifies the beautiful
appearance of the place, which - like Louvain - also has
quiet corners for reflection and study. Ghent also
possesses famous schools and magnificent churches; the
climate is excellent. The people, it can be said, are
more frugal than parsimonious. Ghent is embellished by
the relics of several saints and two famous monasteries
dedicated to St Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and St
Bavo; each has an abbot and a sizeable annual rental
income.
Commentary by Braun on the verso of the map:
"Ghent has a circumference of three German miles,
possesses 20 islands, which lie in the surrounding lakes
and rivers and are also inhabited, 98 bridges, including
three that have more than two spans and beneath which
even the biggest ships can pass. There are 100 windmills
that can grind even the largest produce. In this city
alone there are seven parish churches, five abbeys, two
collegiate churches, 25 monasteries and seven general
hospices. On the site where the new castle now stands,
lay in olden times the village of Ganden, from which the
city also took its name, and a magnificent Benedictine
monastery of St Bavo, which was constructed from an old
fortress and which in 1540 was enlarged by Emperor
Charles V into an even bigger palace."
The view of Ghent shows the city from the northwest in
plan view from a great height. The historical core of
the city occupies the peninsula between the two Rivers
Schelde and Leie. The cathedral of Sint-Baafs (51) is
almost at the very centre of the map: it houses the
famous Ghent Altarpiece painted by Hubert and Jan van
Eyck. Together with the Gothic church of Sint-Niklaas
(57) lower down and the nearby Sint-Jacobskerk (43),
Sint-Baafs serves as one of the three main orientation
points inside the city centre. Within this triangle
stands the 14th-century belfry (55), 118 m high, which
forms part of the cloth hall. The former Sint-Baafs
monastery lies somewhat outside the city centre and is
surrounded by fortifications and moats (103). Ghent,
which is situated to the northwest of Brussels, derives
its name from the Celtic ganda , meaning
"confluence". As a leading centre of cloth production,
in the High Middle Ages, Ghent rose to become a major
power with a flourishing economy and together with
Bruges was the most important centre of commerce in
Flanders. From the 13th to the middle of the 14th
century Ghent was the second-largest city in northern
Europe after Paris, with some 60,000 inhabitants, but in
the second half of the 14th century these numbers began
to decline. Flemish-speaking Ghent is today the
third-largest city in Belgium, with a population of
around 230,000.
Background of Civitates
Orbis Terrarum
The first volume of the Civitates
Orbis Terrarum was published in Cologne in 1572. The sixth and the final volume
appeared in 1617.
This great city atlas, edited by Georg Braun and largely engraved by Franz
Hogenberg, eventually contained 546 prospects, bird-eye views and map views of
cities from all over the world. Braun (1541-1622), a cleric of Cologne, was the
principal editor of the work, and was greatly assisted in his project by the
close, and continued interest of Abraham Ortelius, whose Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
of 1570 was, as a systematic and comprehensive collection of maps of uniform
style, the first true atlas.
For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively
latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few
cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00
inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan
period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was
probably 10 times that of any other English city. The
Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first
town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the
sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in
producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544
Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia
containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in
the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye
view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Green, blue, red, yellow
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 20in x 15 1/2in (510mm x 395mm)
Plate size: - 19in x 13 1/2in (485mm x 345mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None |