19th Century and earlier Town Views and Plans: A - J
Grodno (Bel.: Гродна, tr. Hrodna; Rus.: Гродно; Lith.: Gardinas): Founded: late 10th century; first reference: 1127 in the "Ruthenian (Russian) Primary Chronicle
1575 Braun & Hogenberg : "Grodna," Cologne, 31 x 49 cm., from "Civitates Orbis
Terrarum,"  first published in Cologne in 1572. Over a hundred different artists and
cartographers engraved copper plates from drawings, the most significant being Antwerp
artist Georg Hoefnagel, who not only contributed most of the original material for the
Spanish and Italian towns but also reworked and modified those of other contributors,
including Munster's German views from the 1550 and 1572 editions of his "Cosmographia."
Braun added to the maps figures in local dress, because, he said, he believed the plans
would not then be scrutinized for military secrets by the Turks, as their religion forbade
them from looking on representations of the human form.
1713 Alphonsus Lasor a Varea (an anagram of Savonarola Raffaello): "Vera
Designatio Urbis in Littauia Grodnæ." Padova, Italy. 85 x 135mm, set in
text, from "Universi orbis descriptio ad usum navigantium." A historical
prospect of Grodno based on the Braun & Hogenberg view to the left. In 1562
a summit was held between the Russians and the Ottomans in the city: in
the foreground are two opulently-dressed figures shaking hands, with their
troops of cavalry behind them.
From www.alteagallery.com.
18th Cent. Royal Palace in Hrodna.
Great article on the history of town views, from Loeb-Larocque
1623 Braun & Hogenberg: "Grodna - Vera Designatio Urbis in Littavia Grodnæ." 11.9 x
18.7 inches / 30.5 x 48 cm. Copied after an engraving by Matthias Zundt, 1568, after a
drawing by Johann Adelhauser, 1567. First edition was 1575. Also a
DETAIL image.
From www.sanderusmaps.com
1623 Commentary on Lithuania by Georg Braun, accompanying his view of
Grodno:
"Lithuania is a vast but uncultivated land, east of Poland, with much
grassland and marshes. The episcopal city of Vilnius is the capital, and it is as big as
Cracow with all its suburbs. The next biggest is Grodno, which lies on the river Cronon,
or Memel, partly in the plain and partly on hilly ground. There are only a few stone
houses standing together, the houses are roughly built, with little care; the city also
has no walls or towers, gates and fortifications. But nearby there is a castle and a royal
palace on the mountain, there the King of Poland has his seat."
1612 Antonio Albizzi (an Italian
genealogist who wound up in
Kempten, Germany)
: "Regis
Poloniæ. Potentiss. Poloniae et
Sveciae etc. Regi Sigismundo III,"
Augsburg. "The Kings of Poland,"
a family tree on a back- ground
view of Grodno. 42.3 x 56.8 cm.
From www.oldtimesrarebooks.com
1600 Tomasha
Makovskogo
(engraver):
"Grodna."
From
www.karty.by
c. 1704-20 Gabriel Bodenehr: "Grodno Im
Grosses Hertzogthu Litthauen."
(in
contemporary German: Im Großherzogtum
Litauen -- In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania)
,
Augsburg. From his famous "Europeans
Macht und Pracht," a series of engravings
of city views, plans, fortresses and castles
in Europe.
From  www.bergbook.com
c. 1600 Braun & Hogenberg: "Vera Designatio Urbis in
Littavia Grodnæ..," Cologne, 12.0 x 18.9 inches. / 30.5
x 48.0 cm, after an engraving by Matthias Zündt dated
1568, itself copied after a drawing by Johann
Adelhauser.
From www.swaen.com
1706  "План Гродно...1706 года" (Plan of
Grodno in the year 1706).
From www.karty.by
Biržai (Birsen (German), Birże (Polish), Birzhai (Биржай, Russian - pre-1917 Биржи), and בירז/Birz or Birzh (Yiddish).
First mention in literature: 1455
c. 1645 Juozas Narūnavičius-Naronskis
(Jozeph Naronski): "Mappa Księstwa
Biržanskiego..." is a map of, and guide to,
the Duchy of Biržai, which existed from
1547 to 1811 in the Radvila/Radziwill
family.
From http://www.birzumuziejus.lt
c. 1601-25 Tomašas Makovskis: Duke
Krzysztof Mikołaj Radziwiłł “The
Thunderbolt” (1547-1603) built a modern
fortress from 1575 to 1589, raising
embankments, a palace, an Evangelical
Reformist church, an arsenal, grain
storage buildings and warehouses,
barracks and other facilities. The castle
was destroyed by Swedes in 1625 and
again in 1704.
From www.wikiwand.com
c. 1625 Plan of Biržai Fortress. From www.
museums.ltw via ww.wikiwand.com
c. 1797 Franciszek Smuglewicz
(Pranciškus Smuglevičius): "Ruins of Biržai
Castle," Vilnius. Now in the National
Museum, Warsaw.
From www.wikiwand.com
1704 (Anon.): "Siege of Biržai Castle by the
Swedes." Also a
DETAIL image of the fort.
From www.wikiwand.com
c. 1740 "Grodno. Eine der Fürnehmbsten
Staedte in Litthauen," Augsburg, copper-
plate, 15.9 x 23.1 cm., drawn after
Bodenehr's "Curioses Staats und Kriegs
Theatrum in Polen." Foreground: 1568
meeting between Ivan the Terrible and
Marshal Wołłowicz, in the year Ivan began
the 24-year Livonian War.
From https:
//sklep.raraavis.krakow.pl via  www.karty.by
1638 Daniel Meisner: "Grodna in
Lieflande," Nuremberg, 18.6 x 14.8 cm,
from his "Sciographia Cosmica."
From  
http://old.grodno.net via www.karty.by
1568 Hans Adelgauzera (artist) - Matthew
Tsyundta (engraver): "Vero Designatio
Vrbis in in Littavia Grodnӕ," depicting
Grodno during preparations for the
upcoming 1569 Lublin Union. In the
foreground, Grigory Volovich -- Russian-
Lithuanian noble, statesman of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, Mayor of Grodno
(1558–1566), governor of Smolensk
Voivodeship (1571–1577), elder of
Mstsislaw  (1548–1567) -- welcomes czar
Ivan the Terrible. Text in the upper right:
"The true image of the city of Grodno in
Lithuania. There his Polish Majesty kept
the Diet, and where the  Grand Duke of
Moscow, among 1200 people, has arrived,
very beautifully dressed, and then the
Turkish and Tatar ambassadors...).
From  
http://old.grodno.net  via www.karty.by
Hebrew University:
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/east_europe/east_europe.html
www.davidrumsey.com