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In 1576,
King Frederick II of Denmark granted Tycho Brahe free
disposal of the island of Hveen. The astronomer used
it as a base for building a majestic palace
called Uraniborg, which provided an incredibly luxurious setting for apartments
decorated with paintings and statues, and all the conveniences required
for his position as the kingdom's official astronomer.
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A second building, Stjerneborg,
known as the castle of
the stars, was built in the grounds of the
palace and housed the workshops for creating his
instruments, storage rooms and printing works for publishing the
completed works.
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Tycho even set up an
alchemical
laboratory, which according to the ideas at the
time, was intended to link the study of the
stars with the study of the metals under their
influence.
The splendour and spirit of
grandeur incarnated by the buildings on the island
of Hveen provoked the jealousy of the Danish
nobility, who accused Tycho of exercising an
unjustified authority over the colony of assistants
and students working at his side.
His royal allowance
was revoked by Christian IV in 1597 on
the advice of a commission that deemed his
work to be unproductive and of no benefit to
the State.
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After Tycho went into exile, Uraniborg Castle quickly
fell into ruin and the materials were gradually
pillaged by fishermen. In 1671, the Academy of Science
in Paris sent the astronomer Jean Picard to
determine the latitude of Tycho's observatory. The
scientist reported that no remains of the castle could
be seen and that digging was required to find the
foundations.
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