S_UraniborgOgStjærneborg

U R A N I B O R G

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B rah e himself. But in o r d e r to ca r ry out his p lans he had to emp loy an architect. As the island of Hveen, wh ich Tycho held in fief lor life, was royal estate, and as it was the k ing who had g ran ted an annu a l sum for the erec tion of bu ild ing s in the island, it is a priori most likely tha t it was the royal ma s te r bu ild e r who became Tycho B r a h e ’s architect. Various circums tances verify this supposition . The name of the royal ma s te r bu il d e r was Han s van Paschen , a Du tchman by b ir th as ind icated by the name. On the 25th of J u n e 1564 he ob ta in ed his commiss ion as royal ma ste r bu ilder. Ten years la ter he commenced for F r e ­ de rick II the a lte ra tion ot the old mediaeval castle, Krogen, ou t of wh ich arose the famous castle, K ron ­ borg , so n am ed by the k ing in 1577. However, it was no t comp leted by van Paschen . In the w in te r 1577- 78 he was sen t to No rway to supe r in tend the erection of the fortress of Bahus, and K ronbo rg was com ­ pleted by An ton is van Opbergen from Mecheln who mu s t be cons ide red the real bu ild e r of the castle . 1 Hans van Pa s ch en , who received his d ismissal from the service of the k ing in 1582, cou ld h a rd ly from the d istan t Bahus have seen effectively to the bu ild ing ope ra tions at Hveen. On the o th e r hand , it was easy for h im to s u p e r i n t e n d the erection of U ran ibo rg as long as he wo rk ed at K ronbo rg on Sealand nea rly opposite to Hveen. The rich carved s tone -o rnamen ta tion of U ran ibo rg implies tha t the ma s te r bu ild e r also m u s t have d irec ted a stone- and scu lp tu ra l w o rk shop — a not un common feature of tha t time. A n um b e r of wo rk s such as the fo rme r high a lta r piece in the ca thed ra l of Lund , and ledgers, and sepu lch ra l m o n um en ts over Danish nob le families, who had been closely connected w ith the court (figs. 16-18), mu s t be re fe rred to van P a s c h e n ’s wo rk shop . Toge the r w ith two mano r-hou s e s on Sealand they serve the pu rpo se of th row ing light on the artis t who m u s t be cons ide red as Ty cho ’s first arch itec t on U r an ibo rg .2 His second a rch itec t was Hans van S tenw inke l, bo rn abou t 1550 in Antwerp . In his you th he wen t with his father, Laurens, to Em d en in East F r ie s land whe re L au ren s became the city a rch itect and erec ted the town-hall. The son r ema in ed in Emden till 1577, b u t in the following sp r ing he was in D enma rk whe re he wo rked as ma s te r-mason on Kronbo rg . P e r h ap s he had a lready in 1578 app roached Tycho Brahe who lea rned to app rec ia te him. Tycho men tion s h im several times in his letters and relates tha t he is skilled in perspective, and tha t he ins truc ts h im in geome try an d as tronomy and praises his trus two rth ines s. Even after 1582, wh en Stenw inke l had been g ran ted his comm iss ion as royal ma ste r bu ilde r, he con tinued to wo rk for Tycho Brahe. In 1585 he is men tioned as t h e b u i l d e r e m p l o y e d b y T y c h o B r a h e . And even after the comp letion of U r an ibo rg and S tje rne ­ bo rg the in te rcou r se between the scientist and the a rch itect was kept up. One day in Ju n e 1590 S tenwinke l stayed at Hveen. Abou t that time Tycho was erecting a mill on the island. A few yea rs la ter S tenwinke l sent some pen -d raw ing s wh ich Tycho in tended to rep roduce in the front and at the back of his writings. S tenw inke l died in 1601. In his capacity of royal ma ste r bu ild e r he mu s t have p rov ided the drafts from wh ich k ing Christian IV, son of F rede r ick II, had the p re sen t castle of F r ed e r ik sbo rg on Sealand erected." Th u s S tenw inke l mu s t have sup e r in tend ed the comp letion of Uran iborg , externally as well as in te r ­ nally. And wh ile he was in the service of Tycho, the s u r round ing s of U ran ibo rg came into existence: the cou rt-ya rd , the ga rden g rounds , the walls and the ir bu ild ings as well as the sma lle r observatory , S tjerneborg . Both k ing F r ed e rick II and after his dea th (1588) the Pro tecto rs, gove rn ing d u r ing the m ino r ity of his young son, Christian IV, g ran ted Tycho Brahe an exceptional position. But Tycho had on several oc­ casions roused the d isp leasu re of the young king, and when Christian IV in 1596 came of age and took ove r the gove rnmen t, Tycho was annoyed in several ways; amongst o th e r th ings he was dep rived of a con ­ side rab le p a r t of his income wh ich he received from the state. In 1597 he left Hveen with his househo ld and his possessions, and after a sho r t stay in Copenhagen, Denmark . Two yea rs la ter he en tered the se r­ vice of the Em p e r o r Rudo lf II, and he died in P rague on the 24th of October 1601. Already du r ing Ty cho ’s life his bu ild ings on Hveen began to fall into disrepair. In the course of the cen turies they are levelled with the g round , and nowadays b u t scanty rema ins are left . 4 1 F. R. Friis, Sam linger til dansk B ygn ings-og Kunsthistorie, Kbhvn. 1872—78, p. 279 f.; 282 f.; 290 f.; 296; 346. H. F. Rørdam, Kjøbenhavns Universitets Historie. II. p. 91 f.; 685. IV, p. 251, 355, 398. The accounts o f the chancellor o f the exchequer in Rigs-Arkivet, Copenhagen. 2 Beckett, Renaissancen og Kunstens H istorie i Danmark, Kbhvn. 1897, p 155 fT. Aarhus gennem 1000 Aar, Kbhvn. 1905, p. 136 f. Gregor Paulsson, Skånes dekorativa konst, Stockh. 1915, p. 55 if. Svensk Slojdforenings tidskrift, 1916, p. 31. Danske Herre- gaarde ved 1920. Sjælland, p. 45 if. (Chr. Axel Jensen). 3 Friis, Bidrag til dansk Kunsthistorie, p. 7. Beckett, Frederiksborg. II. Kbhvn. 1914. That Inigo Jones should have been the architect of the castle of Frederiksborg, as som etim es stated in English works, is abso­ lutely inconceivable. At the time o f the erection o f the castle Inigo Jones had not yet appeared in the capacity of an architect. 4 Dreyer, Tycho Brahe, p. 375 if.