Uraniborgskiss 90

A hand-colored copper-plate engraving of Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg palace-observatory from Joan Blaeu's Atlas Maior, 1662-5 Volume 1, based on a woodcut published in Brahe's own 1598 book Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica.

This is his plan of the gardens, with the main building in the centre and servants' quarters, a printing studio, and other buildings just inside the outer walls. Note that Tycho's design was influenced by buildings he had seen in Venice, and was also constructed in a highly geometrical form. The castle and its ground were perfectly oriented in the points of the compass.