Theatre of the World

View in the Rubenstein Library Catalog

Also available to digitally read below!

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum (The Cities of the World) is one of the most ambitious and influential urban atlases of the early modern period. First published in 1572, the multi-volume work was compiled by Georg Braun, a German theologian and cartographer, and illustrated by Frans Hogenberg, a Flemish engraver. It provided the most comprehensive visual record of cities across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, offering an unparalleled glimpse into the political, economic, and cultural centers of the late 16th century.

What It Is & How It Was Made

The Civitates was designed as a complement to Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570), the first modern atlas of the world. While Ortelius focused on geography and cartography, Braun and Hogenberg sought to create a visual chronicle of urban life, illustrating major cities with detailed bird’s-eye views, street layouts, and architectural landmarks.

The atlas was printed in Cologne, one of the most important publishing centers in Renaissance Europe. The first volume appeared in 1572, with additional volumes published over the next 45 years, culminating in a six-volume series containing over 500 city views. Many of these maps were based on firsthand sketches by travelers and diplomats, while others drew on earlier manuscript and printed maps.

Who Used It & How Far It Reached

The Civitates was a prestige item, appealing to monarchs, city officials, wealthy merchants, and scholars. The detailed city views made it valuable for military strategists, traders, and urban planners, as well as for those simply interested in the grandeur of European cities.

Its widespread distribution across Europe helped standardize the visual identity of cities, influencing how urban spaces were imagined, mapped, and depicted in later centuries. The atlas was published in Latin, the scholarly lingua franca of the time, ensuring its accessibility across a broad intellectual audience.

What It Depicts & What It Tries to Show

The Civitates provides:

• Bird’s-eye views of major cities, often including key landmarks, fortifications, and harbors.
• Human activity and social life, with figures engaging in commerce, travel, and civic rituals.
• A mix of historical and contemporary elements, occasionally including mythical or symbolic imagery alongside realistic depictions.

Unlike many purely geographical maps of the period, the Civitates places a strong emphasis on urban culture and identity, celebrating cities as centers of commerce, learning, and governance.

Challenges & Considerations

• The European Focus & the Achievement of Non-European City Views
  As a product of the European printing and intellectual network, it is unsurprising that most cities depicted in the Civitates were European. Cities in the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries feature prominently, as these were regions with established trade, political, and scholarly connections to the book’s creators. However, it is remarkable that the atlas also includes cities from the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and the Americas, despite the immense challenges in acquiring accurate visual information. The inclusion of places as far afield as Cusco, Mexico City, and Jerusalem speaks to the broad reach of European cartographic inquiry and the growing exchange of geographic knowledge between cultures.
• Accuracy vs. Artistic Interpretation
  While many of the maps were based on direct observation, others relied on secondhand sources, leading to distortions or idealized representations. Some city views were exaggerated in scale or artistic embellishment, making them more symbolic than strictly accurate. In some cases, elements of different periods were merged into a single imagined representation of a city, blending past and present landmarks.
• Strategic and Military Implications
  The Civitates was not just an artistic and intellectual work but also a strategic one. By illustrating city fortifications and defensive structures, it became a valuable tool for military planners—so much so that Braun, fearing the maps could be used by enemy forces, ensured that figures in religious dress were included in the foreground of many city views to prevent Ottoman cartographers from using them for military intelligence.

Why It Matters

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum remains one of the most important works of urban cartography, offering a detailed record of Renaissance cities at a time of rapid expansion, trade, and warfare. The fact that it captured cities from across Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas—despite the technological and informational limitations of the time—makes it a remarkable achievement in geographic and artistic documentation. Its influence can be seen in later urban atlases and city portraits, and it remains a key historical source for understanding early modern urban life, architecture, and geography.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------