German Cities of Weimar, Jena, Erfurt, Gotha and Fulda: Braun & Hogenberg Antique Map

A multi-view city panorama from Braun and Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum, likely from Volume V or VI, showcasing five important cities of Thuringia and Hesse, central Germany. Each city is presented in a separate horizontal strip, using the characteristic bird’s-eye and panoramic view style of the atlas, with charmingly detailed depictions of architecture, walls, and surrounding countryside.

Spanning both sheets at the top: Weimar (WEIMARIA)

Caption: WEIMARIA NOBILIS THURINGIAE OPP. ILLUSTRE SAXONIAE DUCUM SEDES
Depicts the ducal seat of Saxony, with its prominent castle, churches, and town walls.
The view shows rolling hills in the background and lush greenery along the river in the foreground.
Weimar is emphasized as a center of nobility and culture, already a significant residence of the Saxon Dukes.

Center Left: Jena (IENA)

Caption: IENA Thuringiae urbs non magna Musaeo, item coenobio clara et celebri.
Shows Jena, noted for its university (Musaeo) and monastic buildings, nestled between the Saale River and surrounding hills.
The compact, fortified city is surrounded by agricultural fields and vineyards, emphasizing its role as a learned and scholarly town in the 16th century.

Center Right: Erfurt (ERDFORDIA)

Caption: ERDFORDIA, magnificae urbis celeberrimae Thuringorum urbis.
Erfurt appears as a sprawling, walled city, renowned for its cathedral and many spired churches, reflecting its wealth and status as a major ecclesiastical and commercial center in Thuringia.
The skyline is dominated by the cathedral complex, and the city is set against a wide open landscape.

Lower Right: Gotha (GOTHA)

Caption: GOTHA, oppidum satis munitum et celebrem Thuringiae, cuius incolas et urbs adiacens et Castellum arce ac muro forti cingitur.
Gotha is portrayed as a strongly fortified town, with its imposing castle (Schloss Friedenstein) at the top of the image, surrounded by elaborate defensive walls and bastions.
The city is shown within its walls, organized around a central square, and encircled by water defenses.

Lower Left: Fulda (FYLDENSIS CIVITATIS)

Caption: FYLDENSIS CIVITATIS & ABBATUM celeberrima clariosa map.
Fulda is celebrated for its famous abbey (Abbey of Fulda), a major religious and scholarly center of the Holy Roman Empire.
The town is richly populated with churches, the abbey complex dominating the skyline alongside the cathedral.
The surrounding landscape is dotted with meadows, small hamlets, and roads leading to the town gates.

Civitates orbis terrarum

Mapmaker: Georg Braun

Date of Publication: Between 1572 and 1617
Engraver: Frans Hogenberg

Braun & Hogenberg’s Civitates Orbis Terrarum (“Cities of the World”) is a monumental six-volume atlas of urban topography compiled between 1572 and 1617. Conceived as a companion to Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, it was the first comprehensive printed collection of city views and maps ever produced. The work provides a rich visual record of over 500 cities from across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas during the late Renaissance, featuring detailed bird’s-eye views, cartouches, and depictions of local inhabitants, architecture, and dress. It reflects not only geographical interest but also the growing civic pride and commercial importance of cities in the early modern period.

Georg Braun (1541–1622), a cleric and scholar from Cologne, served as the principal editor and driving force behind the Civitates. He compiled texts for the city descriptions and coordinated contributions from a wide network of cartographers and artists. His aim was both didactic and celebratory: to showcase the beauty and significance of cities around the known world.

Frans Hogenberg (c. 1535–1590), a Flemish engraver and mapmaker, was responsible for many of the atlas’s intricate engravings. He had previously collaborated with Abraham Ortelius and brought both technical skill and artistic flair to the project. Hogenberg’s meticulous visual style was essential in defining the distinctive look of the Civitates plates.

Together, Braun and Hogenberg created a work that remains an invaluable source for historians, urban scholars, and collectors today.

See more Maps from Civitates orbis terrarum

View of Full sheet.

Full literal translation of the Latin text above

WEIMAR

Weimar is a beautiful town in Thuringia, formerly holding a particular title as part of a county. It is now the illustrious seat and residence of the Dukes of Saxony, who have made it into a magnificent palace and town. It is built of carefully cut and fitted stones arranged in straight lines, and is enriched with orchards of all kinds of fruit-bearing trees, and irrigated by the Ilm River, which eventually flows into the Saale.

ERFURT

Erfurt is a memorable and major city of Germany, the metropolis of Thuringia, situated near the Gera River, which the locals also call Erpf, from which the city derives its name. The Gera flows through the city center, cleaning and nourishing the area with its convenience. At the city’s highest point stands a notable elevation called Petersberg, once the site of an ancient fortress, now ruined and deserted, but formerly governed by the Franks, and later sanctified by St. Peter through the construction of a church by Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

The surrounding lands are fertile and bear abundant grain and livestock, and the city is also well known for its fine wool and the making of garments. The fairs of Erfurt are famous throughout Germany and attract merchants from far and wide, and even Pliny the Elder praises the wool of this area.

The city was elevated to an archbishopric by Dagobert, King of the Franks, in 1391, and further honored with many privileges by Pope Boniface IX and Pope Pius II. (See Munster, Annales Argentorati, and Georgius Rithaiemerus for more descriptions.)

JENA

Jena is a city in Thuringia, and while some derive its name from Janus, I do not see how this could be, since such worship is not known in the Germanic lands. Stieglitz suggests a more plausible etymology.

“If you wish to say in Hebrew: behold we have the house of the name,
You would find it held in Latin as IENA.
Why does the city bear this name, if not because of this?
Certainly, no other explanation of the name can be given.”

Jena lies in a valley, fortified with walls and towers, connected by a stone bridge over the Saale River, and is also notable for its school.

GOTHA

Gotha, according to Rithaiemerus in his description, takes its name from the Goths, and it is believed that the name GOTHA was given to the city from this Gothic origin, which would have pleased those people.

The city is strongly fortified and includes the Grimmenstein Castle, which stands on a high and lofty place. Duke Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar strengthened and adorned the city with many noble buildings and dignified it with various titles of nobility, for which he received imperial favor and recognition.

But political disturbances arose during the times of Ferdinand I, Emperor of the Romans, and later under Maximilian II, when John Frederick, Duke of Saxony, was declared a rebel and heretic. The imperial ban was issued against him, and the city was forced to surrender and comply with the imperial authorities.

In the year 1567, on the 13th of April, Grumbach, along with four conspirators, was seized and executed, and on April 18th, the castle of Gotha was destroyed, and Duke John Frederick was captured and taken to Vienna.

FULDA

Fulda, the metropolis of its region in Germany, also known by others as Bucconia, an island or wilderness, lies among Thuringia, Franconia, Wetterau, and Hesse. Among these regions, Fulda is known for its cathedral city and monastery, established by St. Boniface, the apostle of the Germans, with the support and command of Pepin, King of the Franks, and further confirmed and enriched by Charlemagne.

Its monastery and church are magnificently built and richly endowed, containing the tomb of Saint Boniface. Fulda is also surrounded by broad and cultivated lands, and was once a place of solitude and monastic life, but later grew into a flourishing and populous city, respected for its religion and scholarship.

According to some sources, Fulda was the place where the Apostle to the Germans, St. Boniface, first established a monastic rule and Christian doctrine. For more on the city’s geography, see the map of Georgius Viscelius, and Munster’s Cosmography.