Stjerneborg Observatory

Stellaeburgum sive Observatorium Subterraneum. A Tychone Brahe... MDLXXXIIII. Amstelaedami: Joannes Blaeu excudebat. Print of Tycho Brahe's Observatory, Stjerneborg, on the Danish island of Hvaena [Hven], by Johannes Blaeu 1634 (1584). Bookplate, two page folio spread pictorial diagram, text in (Spanish?) on verso; plate published Amsterdam. Engraving, coloured in wash, with gilded detail, 45x55.5 edged to 47x57.5cm. Showing multiple instruments in balustraded walled garden

Coloured print by Johannes Bleau of the Stjerneborg (Castle of the stars) observatory that once stood on the Isle of Hven near Helsingborg in Sweden. Built by Tycho Brahe, the famous Danish astronomer, in 1584 he used it to make observations for his important new star catalogue. His first observatory, known as Uraniborg (Heavenly Castle), proved too small for his increasing activity and expanding battery of observing instruments. The new structure unlike it predecessor was built of masonry and was mostly underground. Observations were made from five chambers containing single instruments under a rotating canopy to provide shelter from the wind and cold. Above ground within the building enclosure four solid supports were provided for additional observing instruments.