PASSAW [PASSAU].

A fine double folio page, copper engraved panoramic view of the Bavarian city of Passau. From: 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum'. Liber Tertius. Köln, G. Kempen, 1581, by Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg.
TRANSLATION OF CARTOUCHE TEXT: Patavia, Passavia or Patavium, formerly Boedurum, in German Passau, a flourishing city in Lower Bavaria; known for the confluence of the Danube, Inn and Ilz. With his most accurate drawing, the most reverend and illustrious Lord D. Urbanus of Passau, of the noblest and chivalrous Trenbach family, has contributed most graciously to the decoration, splendor, and beauty of our geographical work. In the year 1576.
COMMENTARY BY BRAUN: "Passau lies on the eastern edge of Lower Bavaria, on the border with Austria, at the point where the Danube and the Inn flow together, almost as if on an island in an exceedingly pleasant and beautiful location. It has become very powerful and wealthy due to its bishopric but also due to its merchants, who trade in various wares. For thanks to its fortunate location on the rivers it is very conveniently situated, and like Lyons in France and Ghent in Flanders has a favorable position for trade and lives in great prosperity."

This true-to-life view looks across the Inn to the city of Passau and beyond from the opposite hillside with the pilgrimage church of Mariahilf. The confluence of the Inn and Danube is clearly visible. On the peninsula-shaped Old Town between them, the mighty Gothic cathedral of St Stephen sits on a rise between the two rivers. On the left bank of the Danube, 105 m above the valley on top of St. Georgsberg, lies the fortress of Feste Oberhaus, with below it, on the spit of land between the Danube and the Ilz, the Feste Niederhaus. Passau became a diocese as early as AD 739 and was ruled by the prince-bishop from 1217 onwards. (Taschen)

The 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', or the "Braun & Hogenberg", is a six-volume town atlas and the greatest book of town views and plans ever published: 363 engravings, sometimes beautifully colored. It was one of the best-selling works in the last quarter of the 16th century.
Georg Braun wrote the text accompanying the plans and views on the verso. A large number of the plates were engraved after the original drawings of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), who was a professional artist. The first volume was published in Latin in 1572, the sixth volume in 1617. Frans Hogenberg created the tables for volumes I through IV, and Simon van den Neuwel created those for volumes V and VI.
Other contributors were cartographer Daniel Freese, and Heinrich Rantzau. Works by Jacob van Deventer, Sebastian Münster, and Johannes Stumpf were also used. Translations appeared in German and French.

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Reference: Van der Krogt 3 - #3326; Fauser - #10674; Taschen, Br. Hog. - p.208