Franz Hogenberg, a Flemish copper engraver, etcher and cartographer, was living in the strictly Catholic Free Imperial City of Cologne in 1572 as a Protestant religious refugee. There, together with the theologian Georg Braun, he published the first volume of the “Civitates Orbis Terrarum”, a book of cities that would eventually comprise six volumes and more than 500 city views spanning Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Braun, the soul of the book project, handled its organization, editing and texts; Hogenberg was its principal engraver and co-publisher. In the preface, Braun made his readers a curious promise. Figures in the dress of each country had been placed before every city - partly so that the Turks, whose faith forbade depictions of the human form, could never use these plans for campaigns of conquest. Even the ornamentation of these prints was political.
His origins lay in Mechelen in Flanders, where Franz Hogenberg was born in 1535. His father, the copper engraver Nikolaus Hogenberg, died young; in 1548, his mother married the printer and cartographer Hendrik Terbruggen. The son thus grew up in a household where maps and printing plates were part of everyday life. In 1560, he travelled through France; at the turn of 1562/63, as a religious refugee in Wesel on the Lower Rhine, he signed a Lutheran confession of faith; in 1568, the Spanish authorities under the Duke of Alba banished him from Antwerp, presumably for Protestant sympathies. He subsequently engraved the title page and court portraits in London for an English edition of the Bible commissioned by Archbishop Matthew Parker, including a medallion portrait of Elizabeth I. His brother Remigius, also a copper engraver, remained permanently in England, while Franz settled in Cologne. He shared a lifelong friendship with Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp; from the mid-1560s onward, he engraved maps for Ortelius's “Theatrum Orbis Terrarum”, the first modern atlas. Beginning in 1572, the Civitates was created as its companion work devoted to cities.
Braun's promise was fulfilled print by print. In the “Plan of London from 'Civitates Orbis Terrarum', vol. 1, 1572”, the Thames flows broadly through the image, the bridge is lined with houses, the Tower stands on the riverbank, and in the foreground, on a green rise along the southern bank, four Londoners appear in the dress of their time, as though they had just stepped out of the city. The “Plan of Byzantium, renamed Constantinople (present-day Istanbul)” spreads the Sultan's city between its waterways; in the foreground, a troop of horsemen carrying lances rides past, while medallion portraits of the Ottoman rulers line the lower edge - the very Turks mentioned in Braun's preface. “Palermo, Italy (engraving)” follows the same pattern, with galleys before the harbour and a dense register of churches, monasteries and gates along the bottom of the print. Alongside walls and harbours, the views depict carts, ships and scenes of justice; for Braun and Hogenberg, a city's portrait also encompassed its economic power.
The city views were one half of the workshop's output, the news the other. From 1558 onward, Hogenberg produced the so-called history prints, some 470 engravings and etchings depicting contemporary events - battles, sieges and executions from the French Wars of Religion and the Dutch Revolt, often issued shortly after the events themselves. He is therefore regarded as the earliest major visual reporter of these wars; scholars also understand his prints as a form of visual historiography that itself intervened in the struggle over power, faith and violence. One print from the French Wars of Religion, the “Execution of Amboise conspirators, March 25”, bears its date in the title like a news report: a crowd presses together before the château, spectators stand on the battlements, the condemned hang from the gateway, and on the scaffold the executioner raises his sword to strike. The man who engraved such scenes had himself fled religious conflict. As late as 1589, one year before his death, he published a broadside in Cologne on the execution of Peter Stump, whom his age called the Werewolf of Bedburg.
Cologne never made life easy for him. In 1570, he faced expulsion as a non-Catholic; in 1579, he and his second wife, Agnes Lomar, were arrested for attending secret Reformed services. Nevertheless, he stayed, purchased a house in Glockengasse in 1585 and ran a workshop that became the most important copper-engraving studio in the Rhineland and the centre of a Cologne school of cartography, sustained above all by Dutch religious refugees like himself. Franz Hogenberg died in 1590; he was buried in the Geusenfriedhof, the Protestant cemetery outside the city walls. The workshop continued, first under his widow and then under his son Abraham. The final volume of the Civitates appeared in 1617 - more than a quarter of a century after the death of the exile who had given the cities of Europe their great portrait.
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.jpg "Palermo, Italy (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Plan of London from")
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.jpg "Taking of Valence after hanging of Governor La Motte-Gondrin, April 25 by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Execution of Amboise conspirators, March 25 by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "View of Granada, Spain by Franz Hogenberg")
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_and_Mahdia_(Aphrodisium)_in_Tunisia_and_Penon_de_Velez_de_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030520).jpg "Views of Tunis and Mahdia in Tunisia, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera or Badis, disputed between Spain and Morocco by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Witches")
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.jpg "Plan of Marseille, France by Franz Hogenberg")
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_and_the_Execution_of_his_Killer_Jacques_-_(MeisterDrucke-1653008).jpg "The Assassination of Henri III (1551-89) and the Execution of his Killer, Jacques Clément (1564-89), 1589-92 by Franz Hogenberg")
_and_the_Execution_of_his_Killer_Jacques_-_(MeisterDrucke-1653008).jpg)
_-_(MeisterDrucke-205690).jpg "Assassination of Duke Henri de Guise (1549-88) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "War of Religions: Assassination of Gaspard de Coligny (Admiral de Coligny) by Franz Hogenberg")
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_image_from_Civitatis_O_-_(MeisterDrucke-1016380).jpg "Cuzco, main center of Inca civilization (present-day Peru) image from \"Civitatis Orbis Terranum\" by Braun and Hogenberg by Franz Hogenberg")
_image_from_Civitatis_O_-_(MeisterDrucke-1016380).jpg)
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030532).jpg "Plan of Augsburg, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030532).jpg)
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971867).jpg "Town map of Freiberg, Germany (etching) by Franz Hogenberg")
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971867).jpg)
_and_Cuzco_(Cusco)_(Peru)_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-982927).jpg "Map of Mexico and Cuzco, Peru by Franz Hogenberg")
_and_Cuzco_(Cusco)_(Peru)_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-982927).jpg)
 announces the abdication of his power over the Low Countries to his son and heir Philip II (1527-98) before the court at Brussels on the 25th October 1555 (coloured eng - (MeisterDrucke-194453).jpg "The Emperor Charles V announces the abdication of his power over the Low Countries to his son and heir Philip II before the court at Brussels on the 25th October 1555 by Franz Hogenberg")
 announces the abdication of his power over the Low Countries to his son and heir Philip II (1527-98) before the court at Brussels on the 25th October 1555 (coloured eng - (MeisterDrucke-194453).jpg)
.jpg "Map of Alexandria from")
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.jpg "Map of Barcelona and Ecija from Civitates Orbis Terrarum by Georg Braun by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Naval Combat between the Beggars of the Sea and the Spanish in 1573 by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Lisbon - Portugal (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Naval Combat off the Coast of The Hague between the Beggars of the Sea and the Spanish in 1573 by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-948993).jpg "Magdeburg Plan (Magdeburgum), Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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_and_Florence_(Florentia)_Italy_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030452).jpg "Views of Genes (Genua) and Florence (Florentia), Italy by Franz Hogenberg")
_and_Florence_(Florentia)_Italy_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030452).jpg)
_Mombasa_(Mombaza)_(Kenya)_Kilwa_Kisiwani_(Quiloa)_(Tanzani_-_(MeisterDrucke-948599).jpg "Views of Aden (Yemen), Mombasa (Kenya), Kilwa Kisiwani (Tanzania) and Cefala Diana (Sicily, Italy) by Franz Hogenberg")
_Mombasa_(Mombaza)_(Kenya)_Kilwa_Kisiwani_(Quiloa)_(Tanzani_-_(MeisterDrucke-948599).jpg)
_France_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971785).jpg "View of Paris (Lutetia), France by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Rouen, France by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Italy_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971853).jpg "Map of Messina, Italy by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The Ottoman Corsair Khayr al-Din Barbarossa Against Charles V")
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.jpg "Regensburg with the Coat of Arms of Emperor Rudolf II, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Algiers - Algeria (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The Execution of the Magistrate Anne du Bourg Sentenced to Hanging to be Followed by the Burning of the Corpse, December 23 by Franz Hogenberg")
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_at_the_time_of_the_St_Bartholom_-_(MeisterDrucke-241052).jpg "Death of Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny at the time of the St. Bartholomew")
_at_the_time_of_the_St_Bartholom_-_(MeisterDrucke-241052).jpg)
_Tunisia_with_the_fortress_of_Goulette_(Guleta_Arx)_which_c_-_(MeisterDrucke-982783).jpg "View of Tunis, Tunisia, with the Fortress of Goulette Which Controls Access to Lake Tunis and the New Fortress in Front of the City Walls by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Prague, capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Czech Republic (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "View of Jerusalem, from the Atlas")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-299752).jpg "Execution of Catholics in England during the reign of Elizabeth I (1533-1603) by Franz Hogenberg")
_-_(MeisterDrucke-299752).jpg)
_Du_-_(MeisterDrucke-88968).jpg "Stake at Bruges during the Government of Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Milan (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The capture of La Goulette and Tunis by Charles V by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Scenes of Hanging in the Flanders, 1570 by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Belgium_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971822).jpg "Map of Bruges (Brugae), Belgium by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Javarinum or Gyor, Hungary by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "View of Frankfurt am Main, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Charles V")
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.jpg "Braga, Portugal by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Seville, Spain. With a punishment scene: a procuress or an adulteress, has been smeared with honey and is swarming with bees. The cuckold follows behind, wearing antlers and a string of bells. The procession is accompanied by magistrates (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Bonn_(Verona)_Bruhl_(Brula)_and_Zons_(Sontina)_Germany_-_(MeisterDrucke-1005358).jpg "Views of Neuss, Bonn, Bruhl and Zons, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
_Bonn_(Verona)_Bruhl_(Brula)_and_Zons_(Sontina)_Germany_-_(MeisterDrucke-1005358).jpg)
_Italy_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030454).jpg "Plan of Naples (Neapolis), Italy by Franz Hogenberg")
_Italy_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030454).jpg)
_Cadiz_(Cadiz)_and_Malaga_Spain_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-982897).jpg "Views of Seville, Cadiz and Malaga, Spain (Etching) by Franz Hogenberg")
_Cadiz_(Cadiz)_and_Malaga_Spain_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-982897).jpg)
.jpg "View of the City of Wittenberg in Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030470).jpg "Plan of Kempten, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030470).jpg)
_Spain_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971857).jpg "View of Alhama de Granada, Spain by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Fighting off the Coast of Gibraltar, Printed on 25th May 1607 by Franz Hogenberg")
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_England_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030537).jpg "Map of Cambridge, England by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Drawing_by_Hogenberg_-_(MeisterDrucke-965823).jpg "War of Religion (Saint Barthelemy). Drawing by Hogenberg by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The Port of Kolding on the Jutland Peninsula, Denmark (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Terracina, Italy (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Cologne by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The Siege of Tunis or La Goulette by Charles V in 1535 by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Inn Valley and Schlossberg, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Cadiz - Spain by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "View of Prague by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "The")
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.jpg "Map of Ancona by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Nimes_(Nemausus)_and_Bordeaux_(Burdigala)_France_(etch_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030509).jpg "View of Rouen, Nimes and Bordeaux, France by Franz Hogenberg")
_Nimes_(Nemausus)_and_Bordeaux_(Burdigala)_France_(etch_-_(MeisterDrucke-1030509).jpg)
.jpg "Map of Amsterdam by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Bremen (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Antwerp by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Iena_Erfurt_(Erdfordia)_Gotha_and_Fulde_(Fuldensis)_G_-_(MeisterDrucke-948586).jpg "Views of Weimar, Iena, Erfurt, Gotha and Fulde, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
_Iena_Erfurt_(Erdfordia)_Gotha_and_Fulde_(Fuldensis)_G_-_(MeisterDrucke-948586).jpg)
_Israel_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-949005).jpg "Map of Jerusalem (Hierosolymorum), Israel by Franz Hogenberg")
_Israel_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-949005).jpg)
_Germany_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971849).jpg "Plan of Cologne, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Frontispiece of the First Volume: Allegory of Geography by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Tunis, Tunisia (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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_in_Antwerp_19th_Fe_-_(MeisterDrucke-105866).jpg "Entry of Hercule Francois of France, duke of Alencon (1554-84) in Antwerp, 19th February 1582 by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Capture of La Goulette and Tunis by Charles V by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Algerie_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1005318).jpg "View of Algiers, Algeria by Franz Hogenberg")
_Algerie_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-1005318).jpg)
.jpg "The Defeat of the Invincible Spanish Armada by the English Shores on 08/08/1588, Illustration from 1653 (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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_and_Bays_(Baiae)_(present-day_Baia)_Italy_with_the_an_-_(MeisterDrucke-948578).jpg "Views of Pozzoli and Bays (present-day Baia), Italy, with the ancient remains of the thermal baths of the Gulf of Naples and a fortress by Franz Hogenberg")
_and_Bays_(Baiae)_(present-day_Baia)_Italy_with_the_an_-_(MeisterDrucke-948578).jpg)
.jpg "Plan of Antwerp by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Netherlands_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971823).jpg "Plan of Maastricht, Netherlands by Franz Hogenberg")
_Netherlands_(etching_-_(MeisterDrucke-971823).jpg)
.jpg "The Episcopal City of Odense, Denmark by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Valenciennes, France by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Arras, North France by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Conquest of Tunis by Charles V by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Conde")
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.jpg "Grenoble and Romans sur Ister, France (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Fran_-_(MeisterDrucke-1110811).jpg "Scene from French Wars of Religion, engraving by Franz Hogenberg")
_Fran_-_(MeisterDrucke-1110811).jpg)
_was_injured_by_the_Count_of_Montgomer_-_(MeisterDrucke-64845).jpg "Tournament during which Henri II was injured by the Count of Montgomery and died ten days later by Franz Hogenberg")
_was_injured_by_the_Count_of_Montgomer_-_(MeisterDrucke-64845).jpg)
_The_Silent_Prince_of_Orange_(colour_engraving)_-_(MeisterDrucke-289071).jpg "William I")
_The_Silent_Prince_of_Orange_(colour_engraving)_-_(MeisterDrucke-289071).jpg)
.jpg "Wesel in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Oberwesel and Boppard, Germany (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Stade Located on the Lower Elbe River, Germany (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Map of Brussels - Belgium by Franz Hogenberg")
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_Porec_(Parens_Parentium)_Croatia_and_Modon_-_(MeisterDrucke-971791).jpg "Views of Sibenik (Sibinium, Sibenicho), Porec (Parens, Parentium), Croatia and Modon (Modona), Greece by Franz Hogenberg")
_Porec_(Parens_Parentium)_Croatia_and_Modon_-_(MeisterDrucke-971791).jpg)
.jpg "Plan of Avignon, France by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Religious war: execution of the French Protestant magistrate Anne du Bourg (1521-1559) on 23/12/1559 on Place de Greve in Paris by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Accurate Illustration of the Town of Munstermaifeld in Maifeld, Germany by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Arnhem and Venlo, Netherlands - Geldern, Germany and Ruermonde, Netherlands by Franz Hogenberg")
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.jpg "Lier, Belgium (engraving) by Franz Hogenberg")
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