S_UraniborgOgStjærneborg

U R A N I B O R G 41 in the recon s truc tion . To the left the founda tion -stone is shown . The fron tons of the large w indow s are b a s ed u p o n a f ragmen t in lime -stone wh ich has been found (fig. 5). On each of the fou r r idge - tu r re ts a s cu lp tu r ed (excisa) s ta tue was placed, each of them rep re s en ting one of the fou r seasons. In the Ma rbu rg - wood cu t (and by Braun ius) it is said tha t they could be moved by hyd ros ta tic p r e s su re and send je ts of w a te r aloft th ree times. In the ma in dome a clock-work was placed w ith clock-dials east and west. The bell h ang in the spire. It m u s t be the bell wh ich King F rede rick II o rde red to be paid on the 4 th of Iune 1581. On the ceiling of the octagonal room of the t am b o u r the clock -wo rk t u r n e d a h and , wh ils t the vane, the gilt Pegasu s t u r n e d ano th e r wh ich thu s ind icated the d irec tion of the w ind . Assum ing an open ing for ligh t from the t am b o u r th rough all the storeys of U ran ibo rg one m igh t consequen tly always be able to read the time and the d irec tion of the w ind from the cen tre of the squa re in the several storeys. P ro to type s and analogies of the pecu lia r te rm ina tion above — the sp ire of the lan te rn enclosed by a f ramewo rk — can be traced in Ne the r land ish a r ch i te c t u r e .1 S t j e r n e b o r g . In Astronom iae in s tau ra tae mechan ica , pub lish ed in 1598, Tycho says (Fol. H) tha t abou t 1584 he had erec ted a su b te r r an e a n obse rva to ry of brick -wa ll in a hill abou t 70 ft. sou th of Urani- b o r g ’s sou th e rn wall. He called it Stje rneborg . Wh ils t the castle served as man s ion as well as labo ra to ry , S tje rnebo rg was exclusively bu ilt w ith practical scientific a ims in view. F o r Ty cho ’s in ten tion was, as he h im se lf writes , p a r tly to place some of his mo re valuab le i n s trum en ts in the sub te r r an e an rooms , wh e r e they we re secu re ly moun ted in tha t the w ind could no t move them, and pa rtly to sepa ra te his pup ils w h en several w h e r e slay ing w ith him. Some of th em he wou ld ins truc t on the castle itself, o th e rs in the s u b ­ te r r a n e an rooms. In th a t case they did no t inconven ience each o th e r and we re no t ab le to com p a re the ir obse rva tions till Tycho gave pe rm ission . Hence, S tje rnebo rg was erected in o r d e r t h a t t h e o b s e r v a t i o n s m i g h t b e m o r e r e l i a b l e . Already in Ep isto lae as tronom icae (1596) two woodcu ts of S tje rnebo rg appea r, a g r o u n d plan and a v iew from no rth -wes t. In the ’Treatise on In s tr um e n t s ’ the same two woodcu ts appea r. F r om the g ro u n d p lan (fig. 25) is seen tha t the who le consisted of a squa re room in the centre, s u r r o u n d e d by five c ircu la r observatories. Only the two n o r t h e r n had the same d iame te r. The sou th e rn ob se rva to ry is the largest. F r om the n o r th some steps led down to the cen tre room, the w a rm ing room, hypocau s tum , as Tycho calls it. The va r iou s sizes of the observato ries a re due to the size of the in s trum en ts wh ich we re placed in them. The re fo re the who le cou ld no t be any th ing bu t unsymme trica l. Nevertheless, the principal axis th rough the staircase is led th r o u g h the w a rm ing room and con tinued as d iame te r th rough the large sou th e rn observatory . The v iew (fig. 27) shows eve ry th ing th a t was visible above the g round of S tje rnebo rg : the c ircu la r walls an d the dome s over the th ree c ^ p t s , the low roofs over the two observatories, the g rassy hill w ith the statue of Me rcu ry over the w a rm ing room and the en trance in front of the descen t; in add ition four wooden stands, two stone p illars and a ro u n d stone table, all of them in tended to serve as moun ting s for astronom ica l in s trum en ts . The who le was s u r r o u n d e d by a paling, fo rm ing a square, the sides of wh ich , facing the four po in ts of the sky, me a su red 70 ft. acco rd ing to Tychos statemen ts, and hav ing sem ic ircu la r b end s in the midd le, the d iam e te r of these being 24 ft. As a lre ady men tion ed (p. 36), S tje rnebo rg is inco rpo ra ted in the p end r aw ing of Hveen inVienna (fig. 7) an d in B r a u n i u s ’ map of the wo r ld (fig. 11). These two rep roduc tion s are identical w ith the exception tha t on the map in V ienna the en trance is laid on the east side in front of the la rge r c ircu la r bu ild ing , in B raun iu s the who le is t u rn e d towa rds no rth . In the exp lanato ry text it is me re ly called a s ub te r r an e an bu ild ing con ­ ta in ing th ree as tronom ica l in s trum en ts (sub te rranea qusedam s truc tu ra , te rna organa astronom ica con tin en s ) .2 »Stjerneborg« was thu s still w ithou t a name. P r e sum ab ly did the bu ild ing above g ro u n d really look like the above draft for some time after 1584. P l a t e 8 .3 The gate in the paling was on the no r th side (on the r igh t of the plate). F rom an an te room u n d e r the en trance A a flight of b rick -bu ilt steps led down u n d e r the g round . In the room on the left was a niche, S. F r om he re the sub te r r an e an passage was to have issued wh ich Tycho once in tended to lead 2 Dreyer m entions (Tycho Brahe, p. 104, foot-note 1) that the stone pillar, on w hich the low er end of the axis o f the zodiacal arm illary sphere in the large southern observatory was supported, was placed in position in December 1584, and that the large portable quadrant was erected tw elve months later in the north-east observatory. If the statement by Braunius is correct, that the building (1586) only contained three astronom ical instruments, his reproductions as w ell as those in the map in Vienna show the large southern observatory flanked by the two smaller northern ones. 3 Cp. C. V. L. Charlier, Utgräfningarna af Tycho Brahes Observatorier pä on Hven som- maren 1901. Lund 1901. 1 Galland, Geschicte der holländischen Baukunst und Bildnerei. Frankfurt a/M. 1890, p. 133; cp. p. 130, 212, 427.