Curious maps

Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) was born in Mechelen (Belgium). He engraved numerous maps for publishers in the Netherlands, Germany and Britain. He is also famous for his nice engravings of town plans, city views and illustrations of historic events (great battles etc) . 

He worked in Antwerp for the publishing firm of Plantin. Because of his sympathy for the French Reformation he had to flee to Cologne in Germany. Here he founded his own cartographic publishing and printing house. The house also acted as a school where many other engravers had their education. His most important engravings include:

    Maps for the world atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published by Abraham Ortelius. The first edition was issued in Antwerp in 1570. It is generally considered as the first ‘modern’ world atlas. 

    Together with Georg Braun (canon of the Cathedral of Cologne) he produced the town atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum. The first volume was published in 1572, the sixth and last volume in 1618. It was the first printed town atlas of its kind: a series of atlases entirely devoted to the cities and its people. It became a huge (commercial) success in Germany and the rest of Europe.

    The map entitled Leo Belgicus  (1583) depicting the Netherlands and Belgium  in the form of a lion. This first version was designed by the Austrian cartographer Michael Aitsinger. Numerous other versions from other cartographers would follow. E.g. by Visscher in 1645.

Hogenberg (1583) 

Visscher (1645)

Theatre of 100 Curious Maps: 

from classical maps to computer images 

(20BC - 2020AD)

NOTE: A high-resolution version (PDF file) of the above e-atlas is available for free,

by contacting the blogger.