Uraniborg Observatory construction began August 8, 1576
On August 8, 1576 the cornerstone for Uraniborg Observatory, Tycho Brahe’s cutting edge astronomical observatory, was laid.
Uraniborg Observatory – joint issue by Sweden and Denmark
Issued 1995 for the 450th Birth Anniversary of Tycho Brahe
Designer: Morten Stürup
Engraver: Martin Mörck
Designer Stürup chose a copper plate engraving of Uraniborg from Atlas Maior, 1662 for the central image on his stamp. It, in turn, was taken from Tycho Brahe’s own book Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica. According to notes Brahe was heavily influenced by architecture he saw while in Venice.
Under the sponsorship of King Frederic II of Denmark (1534–1588), Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) built his observatory, called “Uraniborg”, dedicated to Urania, the Muse of Astronomy (Wolfschmidt 2002a) on the Danish Island of Hven (today Ven, Swedish). It was the first time that a building was erected in Europe especially for the purpose of astronomical observations.
The brick building with sandstone and limestone frames was erected in 1576–1580 in the style of the Flemish Renaissance by the architect of the royal Danish court Hans van Steenwinckel der ├ältere [Hans van Emden] (around 1545-1601) and the sculptor Johan Gregor van der Schardt (around 1530 – after 1581/91) in close cooperation with Tycho.
In the cellar was Tycho’s alchemical laboratory. The observatory measured 16m x 16m, with a 19m tower and two small round towers to the north and south of 6m diameter (with cone shaped roof), surrounded by galleries for the instruments.
A large mural quadrant affixed to a north-south wall, which was used to measure the altitude of stars as they passed the meridian, was situated inside the observatory. The engraving of the mural quadrant from Brahe’s book Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (1598) shows very well the ongoing work in the observatory.
The observatory is in the middle of the strongly geometrical Renaissance garden; in addition Tycho had a printing office and a water mill for making paper.
https://web.astronomicalheritage.net/index.php/show-entity?identity=100&idsubentity=1 This UNESCO article has an excellent run down on Uraniborg and Brahe. Really worth a read.
Previous SODs from this day in history focused on one of the best days in the calendar – International Cat Day. I figured after 2 years, it was time to do something else.