This work was the most famous of all the town-books comprising over 500 views. It featured views of the majority of the major European cities. The cities illustrated included Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bologna, Brixen, Brussels, Chios, Danzig, Hamburg, Helsingborg, Innsbruck, Istanbul (Constantinople), Cologne, Leiden, Liege, London, Luxembourg, Milan, Moscow, Nuremberg, Ostia, Paris, Pozzuoli, Prague-Eger, Rome, Rotterdam, Seville, Stockholm, Tivoli, Trento, Utrecht, Venice, Weimar, Wroclaw, and Zurich. It also included some illustrations of places in Asia, Africa, and Latin America including: Aden, Alexandria, Cuzco, Casablanca, Jerusalem, and Cairo.
Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg began the work for this atlas in 1572, intended as a companion work to Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Braun was responsible for editing the work and Hogenberg engraved the majority of the views. There were also many talented contributors that provided original drawings including Joris Hoefnagel (Spanish and Italian towns), Jacob van Deventer (Netherlands), Stumpf, Sebastien Munster (German), and Heinrich von Rantzau (Danish).
Georg Braun (1541-1622) was a German Catholic cleric. He spent most of his life working for the church St. Maria and Gradus. Abraham Ortelius assisted Braun with the editing of Civitates Orbis Terrarum.
Frans Hogenberg (1535-1590) was one of the greatest engravers of his time. He engraved the majority of the plates for Civitates Orbis Terrarum as well as Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Hogenberg also made sure to detail the foregrounds of the plates including fashion of the time.
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