Lutetia, vulgari nomine Paris, urbs Galliae maxima. . . [with French text on verso]

This is a beautiful example of one of the earliest modern plans of Paris. It was published first in 1572 in volume 1 of Braun & Hogenberg's highly successful six-volume Civitates Orbis Terrarum (“Cities of the World”).

The plan is based on the “Premier Plan”, which all sixteenth century representations of Paris are attributed to, including Sebastian Münster’s circa 1550 Lutetia Parisiorum urbs …, part of his Cosmographia. It is said to have been about five by four meters in size and made between circa 1523 and 1530.

Braun & Hogenberg's striking aerial view shows Paris at a historically troubling period, yet shortly before a time of major revival. Around the third century BCE, the city had begun on an island in the Seine, as a small settlement called Lutetia (possibly meaning "marsh" or "swamp") by the Parisii, a local tribe after which Paris was ultimately named. The location of this ancient Gallic Lutetia has been shown to be in present-day Nanterre, about 11 km north-west of the centre of Paris. It was only during the following Roman times, that the city centre was established on the hill on the south bank of the Seine, corresponding to today’s location and the depiction in Braun & Hogenberg's plan.

By the time of the plan, Paris had recovered from the Black Death and the Hundred Years' War and grown to be one of Europe’s most populous and prosperous cities, just to suffer again, this time from the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). A third of the city’s population fled, many houses were destroyed, and major building projects came to a halt. It was only the arrival of Henry IV of France in 1594 that turned the fortunes around, eventually, also ushering in a new era of urban transformation, with the king restoring Paris as a splendid capital city.

Braun & Hogenberg's image depicts the city in full detail, with many of the key features still existing today. At the center of the plan, which is oriented with north to the left, is the Île de la Cité, with the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral (to the east) as well as the Conciergerie (then a prison) and Sainte-Chapelle, the royal chapel (to the west), with the Seine flowing around the island.

Notable buildings that can be identified in the right half of the image include, from top to bottom, the Church Saint-Médard, the Collège des Bernardins, the Church Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the Sorbonne Chapel, and the predecessor of the current Church Saint-Sulpice.

In the left half of the plan, the following features can be recognized, again from top to bottom: the famous Bastille fortress, which after its demolition following the French Revolution was replaced by the Place de la Bastille; the predecessor of the current Church Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis; the predecessors of today’s town hall (“Hôtel de Ville”) and its square (“Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville”); the former Church Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, which was demolished in 1797, during the French Revolution, leaving only the tower; the Church Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles de Paris, which for almost two centuries housed the relics of the Empress Saint Helena, mother of Roman Emporer Constantine the Great; the former central market (“Les Halles”); the Church Saint-Eustache; and the Church Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. The latter used to be the parish church for the inhabitants of the neighbouring Louvre Palace (the predecessor of today’s Louvre Museum), after its conversion in 1546, by King Francis I, from a castle (as depicted in the plan) into the main residence of the French kings. During the Wars of Religion, the church’s bell, called “Marie”, sounded on the night of 23 August 1572 (the year this map was published first), marking the beginning of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.

The city is shown as being surrounded by two sets of city walls. As Paris grew, seven successive city walls were built for the defence of the city. Those shown in the plan, including numerous city gates, are the Wall of Philip II Augustus (on the northern and southern side, forming a ring), built between 1190 and 1215, and the Wall of Charles V (forming a semi-circle, on the northern side only), built from 1356 to 1383.

To the lower left of the image, three people clad in typical contemporary dress are shown. As France copied the stiff Spanish fashions in the first half of the sixteenth century, the man is shown as wearing a Spanish cape, with a stand-up collar, over a padded doublet and hose, while the ladies wear corsets and close-fitting ruffs.

The title cartouche, to the upper left of the plan, is surmounted by the coat of arms of Paris, with the depicted ship being the symbol of the powerful corporate body of the Marchands de l'eau ("water merchants"). The text briefly characterises the city, with a second cartouche, to the lower right, praising its many virtues more extensively.

Georg Braun (1541-1622) was a topo-geographer, who was born and died in Cologne. His primary vocation was as Catholic cleric. However, he spent 37 years as canon and dean at the church St. Maria ad Gradus, in Cologne. Braun was the chief editor of the Civitates Orbis Terrarum, the greatest book of town views ever published. He hired artists, acquired source material, and wrote the texts for the publication. With his work, Braun set new standards in cartography for over a century.

Frans Hogenberg (ca.1540 - ca.1590) was a Flemish and German engraver, mapmaker, and painter, who was born in Mechelen, south of Antwerp. He belonged to a prominent family of artists. During the 1550s, Hogenberg worked in Antwerp, engraving nearly all the maps for Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, published in 1570 and considered to be the first modern atlas. Later, he engraved most of the images for the Civitates Orbis Terrarum. In addition to his maps, Hogenberg is known for his historical allegories and portraits. He died in Cologne.

The Civitates Orbis Terrarum was published in six volumes between 1572 and 1617. It was the first-ever series of printed town plans, inspired by Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia and endorsed by Ortelius as a complementary companion to his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The work depicted more than 500 town and city prospects and views, many after drawings by Joris Hoefnagel, a Flemish artist. Beyond topographical features and city layouts, Braun & Hogenberg incorporated an astonishing wealth of information into each scene, illustrating aspects of the local economies, occupations, fashions, customs, and manners at the time.

Braun was the only member of the original publishing team to witness the publication of the sixth volume in 1617. In 1653, Jan Jansson acquired Braun & Hogenberg’s plates and republished many of them, some with alterations, in a series of atlases of town maps and plans.

A fascinating image from the greatest book of town plans ever publishe