Murer plan
The Murerplan is a woodcut of the city of Zurich by the Zurich glass painter and cartographer Jos Murer from 1576 .
plan
The original heading reads:
“The ancient, well-known place of Zurych gestalt und Gelaegenhait / as sy zuo diser zyt in was / torn open and laid in the ground / by Josen Murer / and by Christoffel Froschaower / zuo Eeren dem Vatterland / Im MDLXXVI. Jar. "
Inspired by plans of other cities (Venice, Strasbourg, Augsburg, Basel etc.) Jos Murer wanted to erect a monument to his hometown. Since there were only a few orders in his glass painting workshop during this time, Murer, father of twelve children, had to come up with something. Equipped with a 'Mesz-Schybe' and a step measure, he measured the area within the city walls and transferred it to canvas. Then he walked the alleys and drew every house and tree from the same direction. The result was a colored painting of the city on canvas in a fascinating bird's eye view in the size of the later woodcut, but with much more detail. The council received the painting "with excellent pleasure" and honored the master with a generous 200 pounds (100 guilders). This picture has disappeared.
The printer Christoph Froschauer , who recognized the potential of this 'city map', also sat on the Zurich Council . If it were possible to reproduce it, many copies could be sold. Murer transferred the original onto thin oil paper. Then it was "torn" upside down on six boards made of pear wood, each 45 × 45 cm. The form cutter Ludwig Friyg began in his workshop on Froschaugasse with great art and unspeakable effort to cut away all the parts that were to become white in the later impression. Smaller fonts were added later on separate wooden strips. In 1576 the plan was printed despite military concerns.
Since the Grossmünster fell exactly on an intersection, a separate printing block was provided for it. The imprint of the Great Minster had to be cut out precisely and glued onto the finished picture. However, the first Grossmünster printing block seems to have been lost or destroyed, because the existing printing block obviously does not come from Murer and Friyg, which can easily be seen from the changed representation. It should have been made around 1610.
The map is extremely detailed and therefore serves as a source for the state of the city in the 16th century. Zurich had retained its medieval appearance from the 13th century until this time, even if the wooden houses were gradually replaced by stone buildings. The expansion of the city beyond the medieval walls and actual urban planning did not begin until the 17th century, when additional entrenchments were built in connection with the Thirty Years' War. The frogs pit at the bottom of the plan corresponds to today's Bahnhofstrasse. When Rennwegtor the main entrance was to the city. In the lower left corner, at the confluence of the Sihl and Limmat , is the main station today .
pads
- 1st edition, 1576 (?): Christoffel Froschauer d. J., Zurich (no copy of this edition is documented)
- 2nd edition, 1670: Bodmerscher Buchladen, Zurich. (This edition is also not reliably proven by any print)
- 3rd edition, around 1700: printer and publisher are not known (possibly Gessner?)
- 4th edition, 1766: Hauptmann Johannes Hofmeister, Zurich (recognizable by the publisher's note: To be found in Zurich, by Hauptmann Hofmeister, Buchbinder an der Rosengass, 1766 )
- 5th edition, 1859/1860: Orell, Füssli & Co, Zurich (Publisher's note, in imitation of old printing and old language: Printed and available from Christoff Froschower's successors Orell, Füssli and Comp. In Zurich. )
- 6th edition, 1918: Fritz Amberger (Friedrich Gustav Amberger), Zurich (publisher's information in the lower right corner, in the waves of the Limmat: Jm MDCCCCXVIII. Jar printed by Fritz Amberger for painting David Bürklj. )
- 7th edition, 1966: Verlag Emil Matthieu, Zurich. Edition of 500 numbered copies with the note Printed and available from E. Matthieu, Zurich MCMLXVI.
- 8th edition, 1996: Peter Kneubühler , Zurich, for the surveying office of the city of Zurich (edition of 500 numbered copies with the note: MCMXCVI printed by Peter Kneubühler, Zurich , in the lower left corner of the plan vedute and one hundred years of the surveying office of the city of Zurich MDCCCXCVI - MCMXCVI , in the scale cartridge ).
Since the woodcuts, which are over four hundred years old today and are slightly warped by age, could no longer withstand the mechanical pressure in the press, the 7th and 8th editions were rubbed off sheet by sheet by hand.
This chronology, especially as far as the early editions are concerned, is not final. The printing blocks are in the possession of the State Archives.
literature
- Dürst, Arthur : Die Planvedute der Stadt Zürich by Jos Murer, 1576. In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 15 (1997) pp. 23–37 full text
Web links
- Zurich in the Middle Ages ( Memento from April 9, 2003 in the Internet Archive )