S_UraniborgOgStjærneborg

36 U R A N I B O R G axes th r o u g h the squ a r e of the ma in bu il d in g are d iame te r s in the c ircu la r cou r t-y a rd and d iagona ls in the w a ll-qu ad ra te . And the d iagona ls in the squ a r e of the ma in bu il d ing become, w h en they a re ex tended , d ia ­ me te r s (in the c ircu la r cou rt-ya rd ) and p rinc ipa l axes (in the ma in square). In August 1585 Tycho B rah e sent, am ong s t o th e r th ings, some spec imen s of a wood cu t of the island of Hveen to T h a d d e u s Hajek in P rague , ch ie f phys ic ian to the Em p e r o r R u do lf I I .1 The wTodcu t is no t k now n , b u t a p e n -d r aw ing in V ienna (fig. 7) ev iden tly gives an idea of it. Th e wood cu t p r o b ab ly se rved as mod e l for the m ap of Hveen wh ich was eng raved in 1586 for George B r a u n i u s ’ large map , “T h e a t r um u r- b i um p r a e c ip u a r um to tius m u n d i ” (fig. 11). The map in connec tion w ith the exp lana to ry text bea r s w itne ss to the fact th a t the ob s e rv a to ry S tje rnebo rg (D) wh ich lay to the sou th -eas t of U r an ibo rg and be tween the la tter and the fa rm (E), at th a t time, i. e. in 1585, on ly consisted of th ree su b te r r a n e a n room s wh ich above the g r o u n d we re of a d ifferent shape to tha t in wh ich they appea red la ter on, and th a t Tycho B rahe no t yet had nam ed the obse rva to ry . On the 1st of March 1586 Tycho sen t r ep rodu c t ion s in woodcu t to h is p a tron , Landg rave W ilh e lm IV of Hesse. Th e woodcu ts w ith exp lana to ry text are still ex tan t in the a rch ives of M a r b u r g .2 They are very va luab le , in th a t the p lan of U r an ib o r g ’s first s torey (fig. 8 ) as well as the east elevation of the bu ild ing (fig. 9) show details wh ich else are u nknow n . Th u s the dome ove r the en tran ce -tow e r was no t yet erected. The pe rspec tive p lan of the g r ound s (fig. 1 0 ) fu r th e r in fo rms th a t the flowe r-ga rdens we re no t yet laid ou t at tha t time (about 1586), and th a t the walls at any rate we re des igned w ithou t the sem ic ircu la r bends. However, it is doub tfu l w h e t h e r they we re ever ca rried ou t in the form as shown in the Ma rbu rg woodcu t. In B r a u n i u s ’ atlas, on the same leaf as the map of Hveen (fig. 11), we find rough and pa r tly inco rrec t r e p rodu c t ion s of the M a rbu rg woodcu ts. In Ty cho B r ah e ’s Ep isto lae as tronom icae , pub lish ed in 1596, the next r ep roduc tion s , woodcu ts , of U r a n ib o r g are found . The p lan of the g round - f loo r is valueless in comp a r ison w ith th a t of the Ma rbu rg woodcu t. On the o th e r h and , the rep rodu c tion of the east elevation of the castle is ins truc tive (fig. 12). It is s igned w ith a m onog r am and , appa ren tly , the date (15)90.3 The po rta l pro jec tion is now te rm in a t e d in a dome. Still, it is a fault th a t the large w indow s and the cellar w indow s of the ma in bu ild ing are no t p laced in the same ve rtica l axes. The pe rspec tive p lan of the g r o u n d s shows tha t the s u r r o u n d i n g s have been finally a r r an g ed (fig. 13). Th e flowe r-ga rdens are laid out, each section symme trica lly for the p r inc ipa l axes wh ich lie in p rod u c ti o n of the cen tre squ a r e th r o u g h Uran ibo rg , the fou r sem ic ircu la r walls h e re app e a r at the m idd le o f each of the four sides of the walls, and the c ircu la r a r b o u r s are placed in the cen tre of the sem ic ircu la r b ends . Below, the walls a re p ie rced w ith loop-holes, above they are level. Th e M a rbu rg wood cu t showed t h em above, w ith an ou ts ide p a r ap e t p ie rced w ith loop-holes (fig. 10). Th a t means, tha t no t on ly the pa rape t bu t also the o u te r sides of the walls, at any rate, m u s t have been covered w ith stones (bricks). Yet the walls on the M a rbu rg -wood cu t are p robab ly , as supposed , me re ly a draft w h ich was neve r ca r r ied out. W h e t h e r the sides of the walls finally we re en tire ly o r b u t pa rtia lly covered w ith b rick s o r p e rh ap s me re ly w ith sods, c a n n o t be settled. The latter, however, is the m o r e p robab le . But the loop-ho les must, at any rate, have been b r ick -bu ilt. At the eas te rn and we s te rn angles the gateways we re situated , at the n o r t h e r n a bu ild ing for the domestics, and at the s o u th e rn a bu il d ing con ta in ing the printing-office. These bu ild ing s co r re spond ed in pa irs to each o the r. Directly no r th of the easte rn gateway an ascen t to the wall is shown in the wood- cut, and d irec tly east of the printing-office a passage th r o u g h the wall lead ing ou t to S tje rnebo rg and the farm. Th e map of Hveen rep rodu c ed in Ep isto lae as tronom icae (fig. 14) is ev idently based on a map d r aw n by W illem J an s zo o n Blaeu, the Du tch a s tro n om e r and g eog r aph e r w ho in his you th had been T y ch o ’s pup il at U ran ibo rg , and w ho r e t u r n e d to Ho lland in 1596.4 Tycho B r a h e ’s last pub lica tion s of h is is land and his bu ild ing s appea red in his “Treatise on I n s t r u ­ m e n t s ” (Astronomiae in s tau ra tae mechanica) p r in ted in W a n d s b u r g in Holstein, 1598, after he had left Den ­ m a r k for ever. The wooden blocks from Ep isto lae Astronom iae a re used for the map of Hveen, the view of U r an ib o r g w ith s u r r o u n d in g s and the g round -floo r p lan of Uran iborg . New is the eng rav ing of the east elevation of the castle (fig. 3), b u t as it is executed from the wood cu t in Epistolae astronom icae it possesses no value of its own. The w indow s , however, are he re p laced in the same vertical axis. Below the fron t eleva- v a tion a section in perspective th r o u g h the b a s emen t is shown , b u t th is section is ha rd ly qu ite reliable. In all p robab ility the lead ing ideas in the design of U ran ibo rg and its su r r o u n d in g s we re due to Tycho

1 Friis, Epistolae p. 88; cp. p. 96.

2 Epistolae A stronom icae p. 8. Tychon is Brahe opera omnia ed. Dreyer, IV p. 349.

3 F. R.

F riis, Bidrag til dansk Kunsthistorie (Kbhv. 1890—1901) p. 4, how ever, read (15)96. 4 F. R. Friis, Tyge Brahe. Kbhvn. 1871, p. 223 ff. Cp. Tyge Brahe's m eteorologiske Dagbog lioldt paa Uraniborg for Aarene 1582—1597. Kbhv. 1876 p. 249 (June 24. 1596: Abiit domum in Hollandiam V ilhelmus Batauius cum per hyem em hie fuisset).